Broken Pieces
by Forest of Grass-type
Summary: A boy is reluctantly forced out of his home by a destitute mother into the region of Kanto, surrounded by embittered people and Pokemon alike. Confident in nothing but surrounded by loyal Pokemon they battle their way through the elements in hopes of a better life.
1. Chapter 1

Light had barely peaked past the horizon in the distance by the time Sam woke up.

He was awakened by a sound that come from above him. Sam slowly opened his eyes, aware it was still dawn outside from what he could make out from the window in his room, the noise continuing to ring. He noticed the peaceful expression of the early morning sky out from the window, everything still covered in the hazy light of the early morning sun. In the misty gaze of the newly born dawn's early rays he gave himself the chance to sigh.

Sam turned over in his bed to face the ringing sound beside him. His alarm clock slowly shook him out of his sleepy stupor, quickly enough to realize his mother might hear it if it ran any longer. His body jerked forward in realization of what this morning was. He gave the small clock a good hit and the noise from it stopped.

"Today's the day," he muttered to himself.

He threw back the blanket off of him and sat up on the side of his bed. The morning air felt somewhat cold against his skin as Sam was only dressed in his boxers and white undershirt.

His bed let out a small squeak as Sam sat up and walked over to the table beside him, painfully aware of every creak his footsteps took. They were forced to build with old, rotting wood that had been discarded.

The house itself had been, for the most part, poorly constructed since their community had not been able to scrounge up much good lumber. He and his mother had taken what they could get and build as best they could without any construction experience, knowing that it would not last. That had been three years ago, when he was twelve.

His father had left to go serve Kanto in the army when Sam was barely four years of age, as was tradition for all able bodied males in every household in the country. Before all the men were taken away they had tilled the land of Pallet to be a prosperous, farming village. Sam could still remember the land within Pallet being a fresh-green garden wherever he walked. He could still picture the lush rows of vegetables that ran on forever that he witnessed when he was three.

Sam had always hated this rule, as not only did it force his dad away, but nearly every adult male the town had left for war. It turned Pallet from a quiet suburb to a village bordering on complete isolation. He could barely recall who his father was, not even what he looked or sounded like. It was said to be an honor to serve under the direction of their rulers, a tradition of which always enraged Sam. To think that leaving behind your family and fight to die in a war you have no part in was said to be a great cause. It felt only cruel and manipulative.

It was said to be a soldier's blessing but secretly this only made Sam more resentful of the traditional government his country had. Taking away so many of the few people Pallet had only served to despise the cause of a war he hated. They had not heard anything from his father for more than eight years.

Sam had hoped in vain that some word would reach them about his father's wellbeing, but gave up long ago.

Several creaking noises later, he stood in front of his wooden chair where a set of clothes lay. The chair sat beside a wood table, which had nothing more on it than a gray and yellow backpack, its strap hanging off the edge of his desk.

His green jacket lay on the tall back of chair with his yellow-green shirt laid on top of it, with a pair of baggy khaki pants below that laid on top some black cargo shorts with the only pair of black shoes he had for four years. Those were the only clothes he had to take with himself but given the circumstances, Sam felt lucky to even have those.

Ever since the war between Kanto and Johto started heating up, supplies were scarce, either sent to the soldiers fighting in war or taken by populations with greater wealth. The quiet meadow-side community of Pallet Town, now barely a village thanks to the two battles it had been caught, was not much more than a suburb not far from Viridian. No one really lived in Pallet by choice and Sam's mother was no exception.

She had been scrounging up as much money as she could from multiple jobs that included selling the produce they grew from right out of their garden behind their house and doing laundry for people from both in Pallet and the city. His mother even started taking loans from different people she knew. Normally she would never ask for money on account of her pride. It was about two weeks ago she said she finally had just the right amount she needed. It was all so she could buy a house or apartment in Viridian for herself and she was leaving for the city today.

In a move that Sam felt almost crushed his heart, his mother told him that she would not be letting him come live with her. She was tired of having raised a child for eleven years as a single mother and now wanted a new beginning. It hurt Sam to hear that but more so to understand that she did not care how he would manage to survive.

He instinctively told the closest man he'd had to a father, Professor Oak. Oak said that he would let Sam obtain a Pokemon to use for a journey to help raise money to support himself. After he'd been told that he'd been scrounging up supplies like there was no tomorrow. He'd gotten quite a few items he thought might come in handy, even using some methods some might find a little underhanded…

Sam hurriedly fitted his cargo shorts on, all while looking back at the photograph of his family as he found his gaze caught on the image of his mother holding a two-year-old and the hand of his eight-year-old self, causing his mind to wander.

If there was one thing Sam wouldn't miss after leaving, it was, the cold chill he got whenever he stayed in this room, alone.

Sam tried to look away from it, while he absent mindedly tied his shoes, the picture only serving to further remind him of the emptiness he felt.

He finished pulling his green T-shirt over his head and pulled his arms into the short sleeves.

He walked over to retrieve his gray backpack by the strap while it lay hanging off of the edge of the table. He carefully unzipped the top part of the bag to reveal the interior. In it were the few resources that he had managed to gather over the past two weeks: a potion, a few tins that stored his rations, three empty canteens, various medical supplies, a rusty cigarette liter, a foldable fishing rod and various other things.

He double checked all of his supplies, terrified at the thought of being out in the middle of the wilderness and in emergency, completely unprepared while at the mercy of nature. Sam began to shake at the thought that he was really about to do this.

Sam slung the backpack strap over his left shoulder.

He began to slowly walk toward the door, opening it ever so reluctantly as he looked behind him into his room for what he knew in his heart to be the last time he would ever see the interior of his room. It may not have been much of one, but it was the only place he could call home.

He had never been anywhere but two cities in his entire life, Pallet and Viridian on every occasion. When you live having little, that which is closest to you are what you have had the longest. He felt himself nod to his room, almost as if the room were an old friend he was telling goodbye, before finally closing the door.

Sam shuffled down the rickety stairs to the first floor of their home to see a familiar sight.

His mother stood in the living room, right in front of the small kitchen in the household, finishing packing her belongings into a small box that sat on the couch where she slept. She was just beginning to tape it when she looked up from what she was doing to notice him.

He could almost see the years worn into her eyes as she looked up at him. When Sam was younger, her irises were such a much kinder shade of green, like his own, something he could always look into and be reminded of a promised safety in. Now, they had grown weary, gradually losing the sparkle they'd had over the years of detriment. Her long black hair—something Sam had also inherited, though his was coarser and messier—had lost its sheen and grown grey streaks. Her features had wrinkles etched into it, something else life had given her before its proper age.

"What do you want, son?" she asked abruptly.

Sam, slightly embarrassed, turned away. "I didn't know you'd be leaving so early," he replied. His mother's gaze shifted downwards. "After all…this is goodbye," Sam said.

Her gaze then shifted to the right, intentionally not meeting his eyes. "Yes, I know that too," she frowned. "I just hope you'll be safe."

"I guess I'll try," he replied. "I had to prearrange a meeting with Professor Oak and he said that he would help explain everything he could to me. I hope that…that's at least enough to keep me safe on this journey. He should be here seeing as how he wanted to see me early in the morning. I hear wild Pokemon are so much fiercer in other parts of Kanto than they are here, even with the League trying to control them…"

"Well you're just going to have to tough it out, Sam," she said rather bluntly. "Pokemon trainers don't make any money unless they're up and about battling, so if you don't want to live on the dirt itself or starve to death in the future you better go after it. I know I sure as hell can't pay for you anymore."

"I'll do what I can to make money from battles," he replied, his voice shaking. "I have to fight the little monsters and save up for a place to live. There's no place worth living in outside a town with a chance the wilds attacking you. I have to hold out for a home somewhere decent."

"Yeah, well that's life," his mother said, downcast. She then started wrapping up the box in front of her. "It's hard, Sam…try living more than fifteen years of it."

"I just don't want to go," Sam continued. "It's such a big place, and I don't know it. They say there are Pokemon just outside towns out there that just wait for humans to walk into their land. Honestly, I don't feel I can even go on this journey-"

"Sam," she interrupted. "I don't care."

Sam abruptly stopped his stammering to look into his mother's cold eyes.

"As soon as I got the money to leave this small trash shell of a town I knew I wouldn't be taking you with me," his mother announced. "I doubt I could afford to raise you to live with me anyway but I just don't care."

Sam stopped, completely dumbfound. He'd known his mother to share harsh truths before, but this…he felt like he could barely stand.

His mother could clearly see his shock and didn't look the least bit worried. "There's nothing here for me and I just want a new life. Everyone I knew and loved…" her voice quivered and he immediately knew she was speaking of Grace. "…never stayed around much. Sam, I'm tired…you act as though I'm worried."

Sam resisted the feeling to hang his head low, instead waiting for his mother to finish.

"So you can go become a trainer if you want or stay here," she finished. "I don't care."

Sam resisted the urge to feel ashamed of himself, but it was harder than he was telling himself it was. He could see she meant every word of it in her face. He slowly turned to walk away and headed for the door.

"I'll be going now."

"You do that," she replied.

He sighed and opened the door to the scent of fresh morning air before him. Sam looked upon what had once been a town as the door shut behind him.

Ruins of wood and stone covered the landscape in front of him. Broken and charred remains of brick and lumber lay strewn in circular piles before him where houses once stood. Debris and large boulders were strewn about the ground almost as commonly as sawdust. Houses still stood with only one erect wall, debris covering the inside, some still containing skeletons underneath all of it…

Sam tried to put the memory to the back of his mind as he walked toward the southern edge of the town, trying to avoid getting in the debris by stepping in the grass. Substitute houses formed a ruined village of small buildings that were either graying, poorly constructed stone work or rotting and collapsing wood.

Sam finally found himself staring at the lab of Professor Oak.

While the lab was much better off than most other houses-as it actually survived the destruction, being more wide than tall with only one story and built mostly of strong stone-it still showed scars. The wall on the right side had been broken down and the wall adjacent to it crumbled in. Dents the size of bowling balls covered what parts of the original wall still remained. The missing parts had cardboard duct taped on it from the interior and exterior. The missing part of the roof was now covered with tar paper from the inner ceiling.

The boy cowered in remembrance of the memories. Sam went in through where a door would have been had it not been unhinged.

Inside were shelves stacked with more than a hundred books that covered subjects from medicine to Pokemon biology. There were different technologies in the room that the professor had used for his research, but many were in disrepair and had constant glitches and malfunctions, such as his communication technology. Electrical shortages were common occurrences.

When Sam was younger and Pallet had a larger population, he and other kids would sit here in the morning and here the elderly professor teach them all about the outside world of Kanto. He actually remembered a surprising amount of it, from the names of distant Pokemon and much about how to battle them. He was glad he at least did remember.

Sam walked past a row of books that could have constituted as its own library into another room to see a boy his age leaning back in a chair in front of a wood desk. The boy had spiky brown hair and blue eyes that seemed like they had formed a permanent melancholy glare. He leered when he saw Sam, causing Sam to almost immediately to cringe in hatred.

"Alex?" he asked politely. "Where's your grandpa?"

Alex coldly shifted his eyes away to Sam.

Alex shrugged at the question. "Hell if I know," he said. "Old man's run off somewhere. I don't know where. But knowing him he's probably out observing some Pokemon near the fields."

Sam looked around, worried, and sighed. "Sorry," he replied. "He just told me to meet him here early this morning."

"Yeah, well," Alex responded with a glare. "I don't even know why he'd even let you'd come. By letting you come he's just slowing me down."

"I have nowhere else to go, Alex."

"That still doesn't change the fact you have to be strong to survive the wild, and you, who's afraid of his own shadow…you'd just be eaten alive. It's either dying here or dying out there."

Sam should have expected as much from Alex.

"That's enough," a voice called from another hallway. "To both of you."

Sam and Alex both turned to see a man with salt and pepper hair emerge from a doorway in front of them. The professor wore a lab coat over his strong, broad build with worn khakis to match his business shoes. While Oak, unlike his mother, still had a glimmer of warmth and amiability in his brown eyes, it was obvious to see the times of war had taken a toll on his disposition. While he had once looked a graceful fifty the creases in his face made him look almost eighty. The kinder face Sam had grown accustomed to when he was but a child had now been set in a stone cold mask of sorrow and…disappointment, perhaps?

Sam supposed no one was immune to the toll war brought to you but ever since he was little he'd thought Oak was special for never showing weakness in these times. Now he was just surprised he had not noticed it sooner.

"Sorry for being a little late you two," he said almost like he was deciding whether to chuckle or frown. "I was conducting a little research up all night when an important phone call came in I got a little too…aggressive in."

Sam nodded while Alex gave a low grunt of understanding.

"Just give us our Pokemon gramps," his grandson remarked.

While Sam almost expected Oak to scold Alex for the remark he just snickered slightly.

"Eh, impatient are we?" he said. "Nothing ever seems to change really, so why should the impatience of youth?"

Sam almost wondered if the two were really related. While they had similarities in the looks he almost couldn't believe that someone as nice as Oak, who let a comment his mother would have surely scolded him for get away with and he just let his grandson get away with, could be related to such a stern ass as Alex. His sister, Daisy, was also patient and kind as well, although she had her limits, almost as if Alex was just a bad seed.

"But enough talk, let's give you youngsters what you wanted."

Oak pulled out three Pokeballs from his lab coat pocket, all still miniaturized so as to allow him to hold each one in between his outstretched fingertips. The professor placed each one down onto the table, pressing each button so long as to enlarge each one. From the clear red tops of the capsule Sam could make out a different Pokemon within each one.

Alex stood up and walked over.

"Thanks gramps," he said. "But I got run and so-"

"Oh no you don't," Oak replied.

Alex stopped.

"But-but why?"

"I overheard how you started heckling Sam about his choice to take on the League," he answered. "Because of that, he gets to pick first."

Alex glared at his grandfather as Oak gestured to Sam to come up to the table. He bent over to look down at the Pokeballs the professor laid out before them.

"However," Professor Oak said with regret. "I can't lie that I don't see Alex's point. Alex has been preparing for this journey for goodness knows how long, while you've just started. I don't know how much you remember from my classes all that long ago but trust me when I say that every bit of it will prepare you, if it's enough. I don't have to say that to Alex for the aforementioned reason but Sam…I think I've told you all enough times how vicious those wilds are out there and I've hoped…you've considered the risks."

Sam bowed his head slightly as Oak said this and proceeded to look through the clear red of the balls. Inside one he saw a tiny red figure with a bill-like snout and stubby limbs. In the next he saw a pink, child-shaped one with red lips, yellow cropping for hair and stubby arms. He also saw one that was yellow and had black stripes with two vertical prongs sticking out of its head. While Sam was looking at all of them, Oak was stroking his right index finger ever so slightly in front of the ball with the pink Pokemon in it.

 _He's indicating which I should pick._ Sam thought.

And it suddenly clicked. The reason the professor let Sam pick his Pokemon before Alex and doing his best to let him pick the "right" one was because he was giving him a handicap. He really was, after all, caring for him above his own grandson in this moment. Sam might have felt touched if he wasn't going over in his head how practical this all was for the professor.

 _It also shows this world is more dangerous than I thought. And it also shows Alex truly is more prepared than I am for this._

"I choose this one," he said.

"Very good."

Sam walked away, staring at the Pokemon through the Pokeball before turning to mouth "thank you" to the professor.

"Any time," he replied as if giving you the advantage against everyone else was something he did every day.

"Your turn, Alex," the professor said.

Alex briskly made his way to the table. He held up the two remaining Pokeballs in each hand.

"Let's see," he said. "Fire and Electric-types are both fairly uncommon in the wild. However, Fire super-effects more types…Electric only has one weakness…"

Alex seemed to think it over before putting the yellow Pokemon back onto the table.

"Magby will make a good starter," he said.

Oak took up the remaining ball back into his coat pocket.

"I hope Elekid won't feel _too_ lonely," he said, genuinely concerned.

The professor put his arms behind his back as he prepared to speak again.

"I've already gone over how dangerous it is out there," Oak said. "The untamed Pokemon are truly territorial and will not hesitate to attempt to kill any one of you. Any human who so much as _steps_ outside an urban area will have wilds attacking them left and right. As you may have guessed, Sam, trainers do offer reward money for being defeated, especially gym leaders, but mark my words…they know that just as well as you do and the ones that are sent to control the populous of Pokemon often gang up on trainers to do battle with them.

 _More like mug them._ Sam thought to himself.

Trainers that Oak was speaking of don't just stop with battling other Pokemon trainers. It's a well-known fact that many civilians have to bribe to get through one occupied route unscathed. The groups of trainers usually formed battling cliques that move in rotation to scope out anyone who they could get some money or goods from, trainer or otherwise. Other trainers may fair a chance without having to spend money, but that's if they could win when they all circled you like fresh meat. However, they're not without their purpose.

From what Sam had heard, trainers usually patrol the routes to systematically guard against wild Pokemon, otherwise they would just run into the nearest urban residence and swarm the place. While they do usually form gangs it's usually to help fight against wild Pokemon on the routes they protect. They're usually under command by local gym leaders, if they're not already disciples of that particular gym.

"And as you also know that the League only permits one Pokemon to be caught per route," Oak explained. "Anyone caught disobeying that law will be reprimanded immediately, either their new catch taken as well as another of their Pokemon. Also, and most importantly, remember…"

Oak almost bowed his head in preparation for what he was about to say as his expression became more solemn.

"Official Pokemon battles, i.e. battles that officially count…" he said as he looked toward Alex. "…and ones that award prize money…" he looked at me. "End with death. Please, be careful." His words made Sam literally shake in fear as he continued.

"Battles that have any kind of reward, especially gym battles, require one trainer to make another opponent's Pokemon die. This is not optional. Remember this…contradictory to most people's opinions and even the League's opinions, Pokemon have just as much sentience as humans do. According to mine and several other scientist's findings they may have even more due to their sensitivity to bonding and social interaction. Mark my words…you will lose Pokemon along the way. This is a guarantee. And you will feel guilty for it and pity them as the technology within the balls allows Pokemon to understand human language and speak it, so long as they have spent a minute inside."

Sam looked down as this completely unknown dimension to his future life had just now unraveled. It was almost like being told your job included murdering other employees, sort of like a soldier's duties.

 _I guess that's the point._ Sam thought. _The League and gyms have always been interconnected with the war effort by tradition._

He took a glance over at Alex who, while he still looked stern as he most definitely still knew this, still looked upset.

"Alright," Oak said quietly. "Would either of you like to see a close up version of the Pokemon you chose?"

They both nodded.

Sam gripped the Pokeball and flung it in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

The creature Sam looked down upon was—unimpressive, to say the least.

It was small, not even tall enough to come to Sam's knees. The little thing's body was purplish pink from the waist down and had the same colored face that bore large lips. Its chest and toeless feet were beige with arms that resembled small fins. The yellow cropping of hair it had made the Pokemon resemble an infant. He could not help but wonder how this thing would protect him from creatures that he continually saw in his nightmares.

It looked up at Sam with its large teal irises with a look of intimate curiosity. It met his with an uncannily human expression.

"Uh, um…" Sam stuttered as it slowly walked toward him.

What was he supposed to say to this thing? Did he treat it like a child? Did it take orders like one or was it more intelligent than he gave it credit for?

The Professor said that Pokemon could talk so long as they stayed in a Pokeball for a minute. Sam thought that the best foot forward—or the only one at this point—was seeing how it would respond.

"H-hello-?"

"Hi there."

"Oh," Sam replied. "So you _can_ speak well."

"Oh," the Pokemon said politely, Sam recognizing a female voice when he heard one. She recoiled back in what appeared to be slightly embarrassed. "Why hello there! I didn't mean to startle you. Most humans find Pokemon talking to be somewhat…strange hearing them at first. Are you to be my new master?"

Sam looked confused at her for a moment before the professor spoke up.

"Yes he is," the professor said. "The Pokemon you chose is called a Smoochum my lad. It's quite rare and fairly unique in its typing. Its Ice and Psychic."

 _Ice and Psychic_. Sam repeated in his head. _What's that weak to again? Fire, Fighting…. Aren't Ice weak to Steel? Well, I know Psychic's weak against the Dark-type and…Bugs, I think…_

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by the professor's grandson.

"Wow," Alex commented. "You really are a greenhorn at this if you're unacquainted with the notion Pokemon can talk. Gramps, how could you let this guy sign on for such a dangerous mission when he clearly doesn't-?"

Oak shook his head disdainfully.

"Alex!" the older gentleman scolded. "This is not a sign of fault on Sam's part. Now I don't want to hear any more of it—do you understand?!"

The professor turned over to Sam to look at him with a genuine look of fatigue on his face. The creases in his face were clearly stretched at this point. Angry as he was, he felt that he'd caused Oak as much grief as Alex had caused him.

"Now…" Oak said. "Why don't I take the liberties of introducing you two? Sam, that Smoochum's name is Cera. Cera, that boy in front of you is Sam. He lives here in Pallet Town but he needs to become a trainer…do you accept him as your trainer?"

The infant-like Pokemon looked up at Sam and smiled.

"Yes," she said politely. "I think he'll do. He's seems very kind."

"Um…thank you…" he replied awkwardly.

"Yes," Oak responded. "A good observation as usual, Cera."

The Smoochum looked down at the floor, as though she was embarrassed at the notion she had said something wrong. The small Pokemon seemed to look as though she was trying to keep herself from shivering in anxiety. He could not figure out whether Cera was frightened of the prospect of becoming a trainer's Pokemon or excited.

Oak gestured to Sam and he walked to retrieve the Smoochum's Pokeball, instructed by the professor to place the ball at the hip on his belt.

"The mid-section of a Pokeball is adhesive," he explained. "It will attach well to any surface it comes across so you should have next to know trouble keeping up with your Pokemon."

Sam nodded in thanks to the professor and would have said more before Alex stopped him.

"Gee, Sam," he said and Sam could practically _hear_ the snicker he was wearing on his face. "Be a shame to leave so early. How rude would it be to abandon Gramps and I without a complimentary battle?"

Sam turned around to see the boy waiting impatiently for his request to be answered.

He held out his Pokeball at Sam.

"Come on," he said. "You're man enough to take this challenge, so then why not battle me and my Magby?"

Sam stared confused at him, having no idea what to say. While Sam did retain more knowledge from the professor than most others, Alex had been studying Pokemon for years. A battle between them, even this early, would be pretty one-sided.

"Alex, don't do this," Cera reasoned. "It's not rational. Sam has no experience in battle. If he loses it may-"

"You're right, Alex," Oak interrupted. "Sooner or later Sam would have to face the harsh reality of battling. One good sparring won't hurt him."

"But-but professor-" she squeaked.

"And that goes for you as well," the professor replied.

"Yes sir," she said as she bowed her head.

"Looks like we have no choice," Sam said to her disheartened. Cera looked rather glum at the prospect of having to fight as she kept her head lowered in discontent.

Sam moved to face Alex with the small Pokemon moving to keep in front of her newfound trainer.

"Magby! Go!" he shouted and flung the Pokeball.

{Cera's POV}

Cera sighed inwardly as she saw the last Pokemon she would want to see before leaving. When the ball opened, a bipedal duck-like Pokemon with red skin appeared in a flash of light. He didn't exactly look profoundly shocked to see her on the opposite end of the battle field, but there was still surprise in his black eyes. Cera looked at him flatly.

"I guess this is goodbye, Arthur," she said, depressed.

"We're about to fight, you know," he replied. "You could have more encouraging words for what is potentially…the last time we meet."

His words struck a chord in Cera she didn't realize he could reach. She shrugged.

"Sorry that I couldn't think of the _perfect_ words to say to you," she replied sarcastically. "It's only fair since you knew the risks. Just like you to make a last ditch effort for sympathy."

Arthur cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't think so," he replied. "I think it's more in _your_ nature to go around seeking the approval of others. You're the one who grasps for sympathy."

"That's right," Cera replied defensively. "You're more _stubborn_ than insecure. Like how you would only agree to be a starter only because I would be one."

He shrugged back at her.

"I have nothing here 'cept you," Arthur replied. "Nothing else worth staying for. If you're leaving then I am too."

His expression was fairly defeated-looking, his shoulders slumped and his eyes mildly passive.

"Alright," Oak said. "This is no official match. This is just supposed to be a little sparring for you to get used to what it's like. Once one of them needs to stop, it's over. Understood?"

"Y-yes, pr-pro…yes, sir," Sam stuttered.

"Got it," Alex replied.

"Sam, that Pokemon's only battling moves to my knowledge are pound and possibly growl," the professor said.

Sam nodded slowly.

The Magby gave Cera a sarcastic smirk.

"Your owner seems rather…brave for this _brutal_ one-on-one," Arthur joked. "Wouldn't you say, huh?"

The Smoochum gave him a disinterested glare.

"Beggars can't be choosers," she replied. "Oak offered me one shot and he's um…all I got."

"How will you travel, much less survive, under the command of someone so obviously underprepared and spineless?" he asked.

Smoochum lowered her head, readying for battle.

 _Gotta show this kid I can battle._ Cera said. _Can't win him over being weak._

"You're not talking me out of going, Arthur," she replied, trying to sound fierce. "I have to go and I won't be given another chance to find…what I need."

His smirk only seemed to grow more condescending.

"Ready…and…begin battle!"

It was Alex who called out the first order.

"Use scratch!" he called.

Arthur was proved to be faster than Cera as he struck her in the chin. His small claws dug into her skin, whipping her head to the right with her hair following as well. Cera grabbed at her face in pain as the small cuts felt white hot on her jawline. As she looked back up at him, Arthur seemed remorseful for his action, looking almost frightened at the pain he just caused her.

"Ah…" Sam stuttered. "Cera pound it!"

Arthur backed away from her a few steps, giving her room. Ignoring the searing pain in her jaw, she pulled her arm back and struck her opponent in the neck, right above the collarbone. The Magby winced at her strike before the worry returned to his eyes.

"What are you doing?" his trainer barked. "Scratch again!"

Arthur hesitating for a moment as if he were cautiously avoiding trying to inflict serious damage. He finally chose his target and his claws connected with her stomach. Cera felt as though her legs were about to crumple underneath her, like she could barely stand. She stayed still, awkwardly paralyzed in mid-battle. Arthur once again waited to see if she were alright.

"Are—are you alright?" Sam pleaded. "Please, get up."

Cera took her trainer's begging as an order and straightened herself. As soon as she did, she heard Sam call out an attack.

"Pound!"

She pulled her arm down—just so could swing it up. The end of her arm

connected with Arthur's chin. The uppercut made him staggering backward.

"Nice job," Sam commented. "We can win this!"

Cera smiled as she pulled her arm back for another pound.

"Magby use scratch!"

As fast as a whip, his arm swung back at Cera and struck her face. Arthur clawed all the way from her cheek to her lips. She could _feel_ the scar it left behind. Suddenly, the pain in her legs came back and they buckled underneath her. To keep herself from falling on her face, Cera caught herself with her arms. She felt something hot flow from the top of her mouth before she saw her blood pooling on the floor in front of her.

"Cera…?" Arthur cried.

"Alex wins," Oak stated.

{Sam}

He couldn't keep his foot still, no matter how hard he tried. Sam's heel kept lightly but steadily bouncing up and down as he sat in the chair. From there he watched the professor bending over to administer a potion to the Smoochum's lip.

 _Damn._ Sam thought. _I always do this when I'm anxious. I just can never sit still when I'm nervous…_

He watched with concern as Oak withdrew away from the small, child-like Pokemon as he let the potion heal. Sam could see the medicinal spray was already working as the shallow scar on her stomach had faded considerably until they weren't much more than light marks. Cera's lips, while still torn, had stopped bleeding and now dried to little more than a red flaky tissue. When she had fainted and dropped to the floor, she was bleeding so much from her face that Sam thought that, in his heart, she would faint.

 _I was frozen._ Sam thought. _Paralyzed at what to do. I-I could have let her die just then. She would be dead if this were a_ real _match._

Alex watched from the corner of the room where leaned against the wall, looking disinterested as usual. The Magby he'd chosen as a starter was looking more concerned at her.

Cera stood back up on her feet, patting the torn skin on her lips softly. Sam stood up to walk toward his new Pokemon.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked.

She didn't even give the hint of a smile.

"My upper lip still stings," she replied.

Sam wanted to give a smile at her for being so strong but he didn't feel it within himself to. An uneasy smile he forced on her may just give Cera more doubts about herself.

"We better get going," he said to her.

"Yes," Oak urged. "I was just about to get to that. I got a little something for you and Alex before you left."

The professor walked over to a cabinet to the side of the room. He carried a package from inside it he placed on the table. From within its contents he handed out two red, foldable machines with a blue eyepiece that weren't much larger than his hands. The two boys took it from the old man. Sam opened it up to see a list of a hundred or so Pokemon automatically come up.

"Wow," he said. "The list of Pokemon here is quite extensive."

"Yes," the professor replied. "These are Pokedexes. They should help you catch, tame and battle against other Pokemon as they contain information on just about every species I could gather. Now, help yourselves to a few more luxuries."

Oak handed each of them a sack with five Pokeballs each, all miniaturized to their small, marble size form. Sam hastily pushed the sack into his bag.

"What I have been researching for quite some time now is the mass influx of Pokemon that Kanto has been experiencing from different regions across the world," Oak said. "My colleagues and I have been studying for quite some time and we're trying to track their migration patterns. Whenever you catch a wild Pokemon you may not need, I'd like for you to send me them so I may have specimens for my research."

"I'll be sure to catch as many as I can," Alex replied nonchalantly.

"Remember what I said about the League rules," Oak replied. "Only the first Pokemon you see per route otherwise, if you get caught, it'll mean a grave penalty."

"Well, thanks professor," Sam said. "Where do you think we should be headed next?"

"I wouldn't suggest going to the Viridian Gym," Oak said.

Sam rolled his eyes. The Viridian Gym was notorious for the gym leader being gone half the time. Sam had heard he was such a skilled trainer that he usually was so involved with the war effort he was around only ever other in Viridian City. It was widely known he tried to only attend during important meetings and business decisions for the town so much so he usually only allowed the strongest trainers to battle him.

"Well," Oak said uneasily. "I don't believe there are many trainers in this area so you'll have to go to Pewter City I believe. There's a gym there, but the only way to get there is to arrive through Viridian Forest."

Sam's heart beat faster at the mention of the name.

"Sending him to Viridian Forest, gramps?!" Alex said. "How the hell could he survive?!"

"It was only a suggestion and besides," Oak said. "If Sam really is willing to take this challenge, he must be willing to face most anything."

Sam began to shake in fear, he looked down at Cera who appeared to have the same reaction as he did, utter panic. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Don't be so worried," Oak said, reading his expression. "Plenty of trainers make it through the forest fine. Now, you better get going."

Sam motioned for Cera to follow him as they both headed out of the room to the hallway of Oak's lab. They left through the doorway to the outside of the town. He looked around at the ruined remains of the town before kicking the debris in his way as he trudged through it. Cera seemed careful to avoid stepping in much of the piles of burnt wood and worn metal. From her expression, Sam could see that she wasn't used to this.

"Have you never seen this before?" Sam asked.

Cera shook her head.

"The professor usually never lets us out of the lab," she replied. "I've caught a few glimpses of it before but not much else. Besides that I never really… _wanted_ to see much more of this."

Sam felt slightly embarrassed but he understood. Acknowledging the wreckage wouldn't be a pleasant sight to anyone. Sometimes, if he wasn't careful, the ruins would cause him some bad memories.

The boy was lost in thought as he absent-mindedly shuffled through the tall grass. It grew in between the gap in the tree line they used as an exit to the town. Cera shuffled behind him as the grass came up to her midsection. As Sam exited through the entrance he turned to look back at what he was leaving behind. Though it may have been a town so littered with debris and unstable housing it would have been nice to call it "run-down" it was still his home. And, he knew that, for one reason or another, he'd probably never see it again. Sam turned away to look up ahead to spot a rusted green sign that read in bold letters, **Route 1.**

{}

The land was flat as far as the eyes could see with the only trees in sight forming the edges of the great field. The grass opened up to a meadow that stretched for miles beyond them. The field was quite vast and anyone casually viewing it would get the feeling the broad, flat felt quite freeing. The only mark of difference in the sea of grass was the old dirt road that had been beaten by human feet into a flat path.

After trudging through a patch of grass the two of them stepped on to the path of red-tinged dirt. The bare earth beneath felt compact and solid by years of continuous use. Cera curiously looked around from the path they treaded on.

The whole time, Sam's mind was racing with panic. He envied his mother now, hating her more than ever he would not come to get to live in a safe apartment like her. Instead, he would have to travel through a place that, around these parts, was synonymous with hell. If there was one place that lived in infamy as the only route Pallet or Viridian had that was dangerous, it was:

 _Viridian Forest._ He thought. _Travelers are said to never risk going there, no matter what kind of protection they have. Even Pokemon trainers are said to be no match for the hordes of Bugs that live there. There are no roads, no paths, they've tried…but there was no chance making them. If you can't step ten foot anywhere else without wilds attacking, you couldn't step five without being attacked in those woods._

Sam knew all along he would eventually have traverse the forest, but he'd put it out of his mind as much as he could.

"Do you guys use this route often?" Cera asked.

Sam looked down at the Smoochum, so wrapped up in his ensuing panic that he'd almost forgotten Cera was with him.

"Yeah, the path carved through the grass here has been since I was little," he replied uneasily. "We use it to travel up to Viridian and back when we need supplies or extra food. We usually go in groups of four or five for safety. Usually, with those numbers, wild Pokemon around here usually don't bother us."

"Oh," Cera replied. "The professor told me that no matter what kinds of numbers you group up in, wilds are still going to come after you."

Sam let his head hang slightly, hearing that again.

"Yeah, they will," he replied. "But for some reason Pallet is much safer then everywhere else I've heard about. Here of course and Viridian. Don't know why though, I suppose the professor could probably tell you…"

"The professor did say something about not having to worry all that much about wilds around here," Cera replied. "Or Viridian for that matter. He said the Pokemon around here are more startled by humans than truly hateful toward them."

"Well, it's safe anyways," Sam said. "At least, it was when my family brought me down here when we walked to Viridian City. When I was a kid my family and I would try and spot wild Pokemon running through grass as we walked by. Poor things, I remember when I was small I would sometimes run into the grass to try and startle the Rattatta and the Pidgey. It was fun while it lasted..."

He lowered his head in a faint smile.

"Hm," he hummed. "If I can remember hard enough, some memories have both my mom _and_ my dad."

"Oh," Cera said. "Where's your father now?"

"Don't know," Sam replied. "I hope he's alive somewhere out there. I'd like to think that at least. He-he did leave for the war, after all. Professor Oak told you about the war, didn't he? It's…it's not something that we really _like_ to discuss."

"Yeah," Cera answered. "He did tell us about the fighting between Kanto and…Johto, I think it's called?"

Sam hung his head, the pain of past memories and sorrowful feelings not quite present yet but awfully close.

"Yeah," he said. "You got it right. To be honest, it's best to try and remember the happy times you've had with people than dwelling on their absence."

Cera sighed.

"I wish I had something to feel nostalgic for," she said. "It'd seem nice to remember something good about where…I used to call home."

"Oh?" Sam asked. "Did you have a place to live before you were with Oak?"

"I don't remember it that well," Cera said. "And it's not much to talk about really. That's why I kind of wish I _did_ have something to remember about it."

Sam shrugged at her in response.

{}

"I didn't think we'd startle any of them," Sam said.

"The danger of travelling with only two," Cera said as she dodged the Rattatta that was jumping at her. She reached out with her arm and slapped at its head with her arm. A few strikes downed the mouse Pokemon so it splayed out in the grass. Another one appeared right out of the grass to the side of the path and hit Cera with a good tackle. She was knocked back but managed to recover and smack it with a good one, two, three strikes until it crumpled to the ground.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

"It's fine really," Cera replied. "These Rattatta must be mates. Wild Pokemon, especially smaller ones, get real feisty when they've newly mated. Oak told me it was a territory thing."

"Look out beside you," Sam said and pointed.

Cera turned to see a new foe bare its fangs at them. The Rattatta sauntered over to her and tackled the Smoochum with a speed the surprised Sam. Before she could even get up the mouse knocked her back down with a good tackle. Before Sam could pull out her Pokeball from the waist she quickly smacked the wild Pokemon on the head until it fell where it stood.

"That was a close call," Sam said.

"I'll say," she said and let out a deep, tired sigh. She rubbed the spot where the mouse Pokemon had tackled her tenderly. "She must have been a friend of the other two. These smaller wild you need to look out for. They may not pack a punch alone but they'll gather in groups to compensate for their lack in size."

"Oak taught you a lot," he said. "I'm glad because it's been years since we had class where he would teach us all about the outside world, especially Pokemon."

His Smoochum nodded. They would have continued their uphill walk through the meadow had they not heard a whinnying in the distance.

"No, it can't be…" Sam said.

The both turned to a pale skinned Pokemon run on all four hooves towards them. A few small embers flared across its back and a large flame running from its hind to form a tail-like structure. Despite its cute, beady eyes it seemed to glare at them.

"A Ponyta?" Sam asked.

"All the way out here?" Cera continued. "This can't be right."

"Cera, what should we-"

"Let me handle this," she responded.

Before Sam could intervene his Smoochum ran as fast as she could on her small feet up to the flaming horse Pokemon. On seeing her the Fire-type continued galloping and lowered its head to hit his starter in her body. Cera took the blow surprisingly well as it barely moved her from where she stood. She smacked the Ponyta across its head, stopping its running. It stepped back a ways before charging into her again, again doing little to stop her as she used a forceful pound against the Ponyta's leg and it gave of loud squeal. The Ponyta's legs buckled as it bent downward to crumple to the ground. After seeing the wild Pokemon downed, Sam ran over to check on his Pokemon. He lowered himself to Cera's level.

"You really held yourself well against it," he said. "That last hit really took it out."

"Yeah," she panted. "I was pretty surprised too. This wild will be up moving again soon, it's just unconscious for now. Its hits did barely anything, I think the Rattatta may have done more."

Sam cautiously circled the small horse, noticing the thinness of its legs and how small its body was.

"Do you see how small those flames of it are?" Cera asked. "Ponyta usually have a full mane of flame well before they reach puberty. This one must be real young, either far away from its herd or totally lost."

"Well I've never seen one around here before," Sam said. "Not even heard a person mention one on Route One."

"That's what I thought," Cera said. "Usually when these things get lost, part of the herd will split off and come to search for it so babies like these rarely stray off _that_ far. I've never even heard of the professor talking about a Rapidash herd near _Pallet_ of all places."

"I've never heard of one either," he replied.

Sam turned to move forward along the dirt path with Cera trailing behind him.

They continued up the hillside until he arrived at the top. Before he could see anything else he saw acres farmland. Rows of fresh produce filled the vast land of rich soil so that it was green, from the work of daily farm work. From there he could see the buildings of Viridian just beyond him. If he squinted he could make out figures moving along its streets. He smiled at the familiar place.

"Well we made it," Sam said. "Sure is a nice view, isn't it?"

"You should be my height," Cera replied. "I can't make out much."

Sam gave a light chuckled as they continued down the hill. The dirt path ran through the mile or so of farmland with the tall grass cleared. He and Cera glanced curiously side-to-side as they saw the men and Ground-types, such as Dugtrio and Sandslash, tilling the fields. He could even make out the figures of men chasing away at wild Pokemon to get out of their fields. The areas where vegetables grew was separated by metal fences to prevent wild Pokemon, usually a Fighting-type from what Sam saw, from entering. When they weren't out plowing their crops, security was maintained by strong Pokemon that stood guard.

It reminded Sam of the fields he used to see when he was small. When he was only three or four years old the land around Pallet Town was mostly tilled fields of green that, for when he was a kid, looked like they could go on forever. However, once the military of Kanto needed recruiting, all the men who plowed those fields were taken away and with so few to work the beds of farmland it was lost to the meadow's grass. The sight of the Viridian farmlands gave Sam a mixture of nostalgia and jealousy as he remembered it.

"Viridian's just as Oak described it," Cera said. "He says that not only does the city grow enough for its population but it actually can ship its produce to other places for commerce."

"Yeah," Sam replied. "You don't have to worry about having enough to eat in Viridian City. You know, it sounds like Oak taught you a lot."

"Let's just say we had a lot of time to discuss the outside world," Cera replied.

A five foot tall white fence surrounded the city borders save for a partially open gate that, fully ajar, may have been ten feet wide. The dirt path opened up to a concrete street.

Pedestrians walked in a seamless flow in front of them going right, left and forward down another street. Wooden carts pulled by Tauros wheeled along the paved roads to wherever their masters willed. The houses, while not particularly large or extravagant, were very solid-looking structures made of stone and yellow-tinted wood—not any of the cheap kind Sam and his family were forced to live in—that could have been two stories. The roofs were all slanted with mostly green shingles and many had a chimney—a concept alien to Sam but always seemed wonderful to own on cold, winter nights. Half the city was like this, anyway.

In multiple sections of the town there were half-built buildings where Sam could remember seeing formerly been only the blackened, charred remains of what were formerly houses when he was twelve. If you looked closely enough at the fence, houses, fields surrounding the city it looked similar, like parts had been torn away and then stitched back up with varying materials. There were places in the sidewalk and pavement that looked like entire sections had been stripped away and completely repaved. Parts of the streets and roads were concrete and pavement, while other parts were cobblestone. Houses looked like one part of the roof or wall were made of different brick or wood than the rest of it.

Still, at least Viridian had the money and manpower to rebuild after the destruction of war, unlike Pallet, so for all Sam was concerned, he considered the place paradise.

"Gee," Cera said. "This is quite a lot, isn't it?"

"Hm," Sam said. "It's no wonder Mom wanted to move here so bad. Being here…it's just such a nice place."

"Yeah," Cera replied. "It's awfully big though. Sam, what about your mother? Is she…is she not-"

"She's chosen to come live here without me," Sam said as he attempted to keep up with the traffic behind him. "It's hard for anyone to come live here and it'd only make it harder to support me, even if I did get a job. She's had a hard life, even before the war got bad. She doesn't think of me as a child anymore."

Sam and his Smoochum waded through the traffic of pedestrians as he attempted to turn to a new street. He was navigating toward their destination by memory.

"It's the whole reason Oak had me start with you as a trainer," he added.

He was trying his best to sift through the crowds of people, hoping Cera wouldn't get stepped or bumped into by accident. Sam eventually made it to the landmark he and his mother would always use to navigate the city—the Viridian Pokemon Center.

He stood alongside Cera as they stared briefly at the red roofed building with pale walls.

"Did Oak ever tell you what a Pokemon Center was?" Sam asked.

"He's mentioned it briefly, but I forget exactly," she answered.

"It's a medical center for Pokemon to use that will help heal up, usually in a short amount of time," Sam said. "There's one in most every town, as the professor said. I guess we'll need to be using it quite a bit. Speaking of which…"

He looked over his Smoochum's body to see the bruises hadn't quite shown yet from her scuffles with the wild Pokemon but it was obvious she'd been heavily hit by recent battles.

"I think you may need to have a visit."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, after all that battling you did you probably need a bit of healing. We'll go in and get you fixed up."

"You mean, you would do that for me?" Cera asked bewildered.

Sam blinked in response to her surprise.

"Yes, why wouldn't?"

"Oh…" Cera replied. "I don't know."

And Sam pushed the doors open to let himself and his Pokemon in.


	3. Chapter 3

{Cera's POV}

Cera looked up as Sam opened the door for her. She stood in a large, pale-pink room with cushion-padded couches lining both sides of the walls. Sitting on these couches were various trainers with different Pokemon, some eating lunch along with their team. Cera, while she had been tutored by the professor over various Pokemon and trainer techniques, was quite shocked to actually be standing in a room dedicated post-battle injuries. It wasn't like the huge city overhead where she was afraid if she wasn't by Sam's side for one minute she would suddenly be lost. Stepping inside felt like so exciting. It was like a field-study, as Professor Oak would have put it, in a safe environment.

After glancing down at her reflection in the shiny tiles, Cera began to glance at a trainer eating from a tray. Her Pidgey pecked at its bowl of small bits of diced Bug-type body parts. Cera also turned to see second trainer's Wurmple sipping some amber liquid from a straw. Beside him sat the third trainer absent-mindedly watching her Nidoran lap up a bowl of water. Cera then looked around the room to see the counter at the far end in front of them with a nurse standing behind it. It was at this point Sam walked up beside her and asked her a question.

"What are you looking at?" Sam asked.

"I've never been in a room that's so…" she struggled with. "I don't know…energetic, I suppose. It's not like the professor's lab where there were only a few of us and I didn't get to know many others because most Pokemon, besides me, Arthur, and Tim, an Elekid Oak had, would be usually be sent away for research purposes. I don't know how else to put it other than everyone here seems to just come and go as they please."

Sam looked down at her.

"I'm guessing you don't get out much," he said even though he already knew the answer.

"The atmosphere at the lab was…how you say," Cera replied. "Formal, I guess? We didn't have much casual time as every minute was spent helping Oak with house-work or us being drawn in by his stories about the outside world. We were usually worked to bone. The three of us were kind of taught how to behave and supposed to be…pretty orderly? Nothing like this."

Sam and she walked up to the blonde nurse in a white uniform who was checking the monitor of a computer when she noticed them. Upon seeing them, the woman handed Sam a clipboard and pointed to a blank line on it while handing him a pen.

"You have to sign your name in order to use the Center's healing machines," she said politely.

Sam nodded and penned his signature in print. She took it back to then type in something on her keyboard. In a matter of seconds she looked slightly confused before looking back at him.

"Hm, it doesn't show any records of usage," she said. "I thought you were a new trainer by the looks of you."

"Yes ma'am," Sam replied

"You'll have to put any Pokemon you wish to recover back into their Pokeballs for the machine to take effect," she said.

Sam pulled the Pokeball from his waist and pointed it at her. With a press of a button it opened up and her body was converted into energy as she was transported inside.

Cera doesn't know if it was because she had just gotten used to being inside one, but a Pokeball's interior was strangely calming. What she never noticed about the world before is that there's _always_ something moving. Cera never noticed it before, but her body was always in constant movement, beating with a pulsing rhythm and warmth that you'd always gotten used to being alive. Once inside a Pokeball, that all changes.

It was as though her body had just stopped and she was completely still. Everything is dormant inside and it's weird just how slow it all is. Sure, she saw the outside world through the transparent top above her but it didn't feel real to her. It felt as though Cera was watching another world she wasn't apart of and was just observing from afar. You could hear things but they were less discernable noises and more like muffled sounds that meant nothing as voices having little to no familiarity. She supposed it was like how a Magikarp would see the world from an aquarium.

Cera remembered the first time she had ever been in one of these, almost immediately she felt as though she began to have something sent directly inside of her head, which she would later come to recognize as the Pokeball giving her direct understanding of the human language.

She could see Sam's hand grasp the ball from the top and hand it to the nurse. The nurse then walked over to place her Pokeball into a space where she felt the ball rock slightly as it settled into place. Cera waited a moment before she was overcome with a wave of euphoria. All of a sudden the pain from battle she had been ignoring gradually began to fade away. The tiredness she'd felt began to feel restored to her original energy. After a few seconds she'd felt just as good, if not better, than when Sam had taken her from the lab.

As soon as Cera was healed she saw the nurse's small hand grab the top of her Pokeball and placed in the palm of Sam's larger hand. As soon as she was back in his care, Cera felt the ball open back up. She stood back on the tile floor to glance back up at her trainer.

"Feeling better?" he asked her.

She nodded in reply. Just as Cera was about to say more, the nurse cleared her throat.

"I'm glad you found everything satisfactory," the nurse said. "But I'm going to warn you that the first two trips in each town made to the Pokemon Center are the only free ones."

Sam turned to her with a worried expression.

"What?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "I needed to record if you had used our Center's services before because each time after the second trip it's our policy to charge trainers."

Sam looked scared now.

"How, um, how much do you charge?" he asked.

"Well, here in Viridian we usually charge about ten dollars per Pokemon for basic healing, like what I did for your Smoochum," she answered. "But I don't know about other places."

Cera and her trainer's eyes met with a look of mild panic. Cera was trying to guess how much five dollars was of value to a trainer like Sam but she was guessing that it wasn't easy to come by for him. The boy still nodded respectfully to the woman behind the monitor.

"Well," Sam replied. "Thanks for the warning."

She nodded and they both left the building, Sam's head slightly lowered. Cera didn't know what to say to her trainer's more than obvious discomfort. It felt awkward to her, knowing that she couldn't do something to help.

 _Or maybe he's overreacting._ Cera thought. _From what I can tell, he's prone to it. Couldn't hurt to ask…_

"Hey, Sam," she asked. "How much _is_ ten dollars exactly? Is it really worth as much as you're worrying about?"

"My mother made about fifteen working one job washing clothes, usually," Sam said solemnly. "So yeah, that's a lot. I just…don't know if we could really afford to pay that much for every Pokemon I have."

Cera smiled up at him.

"Maybe if we're lucky, we won't need to use the Center all that much," she said.

Sam shifted the strap of his backpack to the opposite shoulder.

"Yeah, well," he started.

Sam began to walk down the sidewalk.

"Luck is not on our side," he finished.

Cera's smile faded.

"Can't really argue with that," she said.

Cera followed after him.

 _He is a greenhorn, just like Alex said._ She thought. _Totally unprepared for what's about to come. If he keeps this poor me attitude up, I may never get_ there. _I don't hate Sam…but he seems naïve. He doesn't realize that being that pessimistic is selfish. I wonder if I should tell him, or would that make things more complicated…?_

 _Yeah._ She answered herself. _It would make things more complicated. I shouldn't try and be selfish myself._

"Cera come on," Sam said.

She looked up at him, confused.

"We should go catch another Pokemon before we go through…you know," he said. "We need to be prepared as possible."

Cera nodded agreeing before she followed after him.

{Sam's POV}

Sam walked led himself and Cera to the outskirts of Viridian City, where the vast farm fields abruptly stopped right in front of the white fence the surrounding the city. There, he stopped right at the beginning of the dirt path that led west from Viridian City. Sam leaned against the fence to the side of him, observing the men at work picking tomato plants underneath the late afternoon sun.

 _I just hope this works._ He thought to himself.

"Sam," Cera said. "I thought we were going to catch a Pokemon."

"We are," he replied. "We're just waiting."

"For what?" she asked.

"Well, see," Sam replied. "You know Oak told us it's forbidden to catch more than one Pokemon per route? And even then, it's only the first we see?"

The Smoochum nodded.

"Well," Sam said. "I figured we'd be able to catch more Pokemon by being smart about our catches. See, wild Pokemon are always sneaking into the fields here and trying to run off with some of the crops to eat, but they're usually chased off. I figured that if we wait for one to show up, we could possibly catch a Pokemon without having to leave the city."

Cera smiled at him in reply.

"That sounds pretty smart," she said.

Sam nodded.

"We just have to be a little patient," he replied. "A chance will come."

So the two of them stood around, waiting for what Sam said would come. It was about five minutes before they both got bored and started walking along the fence, trying to see to see if they could sport a viable catch. When they didn't find anything, Cera offered to walk down the dirt path and Sam agreed. It was about another five minutes before Sam spotted a chance.

Up ahead of him, he saw something yellow dash on all fours between the rows carrots with a man chasing after it with a hoe in his hand, cursing at it.

"I found one!" he cried while pointing.

Sam hurried towards the potential catch, his right hand rifling through his backpack trying to reach into the sack Professor Oak had given him to take a Pokeball. When the thickly-built farmer had chased the Pokemon into the dirt path, his face red with rage, Sam could clearly make out a blue skinned creature with yellow wool dragging a vine of tomatoes in its mouth.

 _A Mareep._ He thought. _I'm going to have to stay far back or else it might electrocute me._

Sam raced in front of the Mareep just as he was about to make its escape down the road. The farmer backed off as he realized Sam would handle it, content to watch. The Wool Pokemon saw him and began to slowly back away from him as he pulled a Pokeball from his bag, before Cera came up behind the Pokemon.

"Pound it," he said.

Cera hit him from behind with her arm, knocking the small Electric-type forward. The Mareep backed away to Tackle Cera, forcing her to stumble backward. Cera gave him another good pound with her right arm, throwing the Pokemon back. He flopped onto the ground weakly as Cera's strike had thrown it into a position where it was easier to aim. Sam pressed the center button on the Pokeball to enlarge it before tossing it at the Mareep. The ball bounced off, splitting in half before taking the Pokemon in with a flash of red light. Sam retrieved the Pokeball to watch the Electric-type from the clear red top, looked scared at him.

"Good job boy," the farmer said. "Keepin' the damn leeches out our fields."

He walked back through the rows of vegetables as Sam walked away, being waved at by some. Once they were near the grass of Route 22, according to a sign that Sam read, he let out the Mareep in front of him. He glared beside him to Cera, then back up at Sam.

"What—what did you do to me?!" he demanded. "I can now suddenly…speak human? How is this possible…?"

"It's the technology of the Pokeball," Cera answered for him.

The Mareep continued to leer at Sam. The solid contempt in the Electric-type's eyes made the boy feel quite uncomfortable. Cera was looking awfully defeated at the both of them.

"Don't—don't…" he stuttered. "Think I'm just going to—to…roll over and do your bidding. I'm no slave."

Sam paused to rifle through his bag to pull a tin case from the bottom of it. He opened the tin up to reveal juicy slices of oran fruit he'd packed the night before. Sam squatted down to the level of the Electric-type and pulled a slice to hold up to the Mareep's mouth. He still looked reluctant.

Sam sat down on the dirt beneath him, giving his legs a rest from the uncomfortable squatting position.

"Come on," Sam said with an uneasy smile. "I know you're hungry."

The Pokemon gave him an exasperated expression, like Sam had just insulted him. Cera gave Sam a worried expression, like she felt this would wind up being pointless.

"What?" he asked. "Do all you humans try and bribe your new slaves with food? I bet it's something you do because you think I'm weak."

"I never thought that," the boy pleaded. "I just thought you wanted some food."

The Pokemon continued glaring at him. Just as Sam was having thoughts of putting the fruit away, the Mareep jerked forward slightly. Sam looked with earnest to see him nibbling slowly at the oran slice, one bite at a time. Soon, the slice was all gone and the Pokemon was licking up the juices around his mouth.

"Could-could I please have some more?" he asked.

Sam pulled out another slice, which the Mareep took with gratitude. His eyes softened from the hard glare until they were almost cute.

"Oh," he cried. "I haven't eaten something since yesterday. And those were just some weeds I found at the edge of the field. Nothing like this…"

He continued eating until it was gone.

"Thanks," he said when he was finished. "Could I some more?"

"Alright," Sam replied. He pulled out another slice of oran fruit. "But this is your last one. I need to save them for the road ahead."

"That's fine," he said as he talked in between bites. "The other Pokemon 'round here…yum, are kind of greedy, so they don't let me graze that often, ah…I'm always fighting over who gets to eat um…which parts of the grass and there's almost never enough for any of us…hmm, there's just too many of us here."

"The professor figured as much," Cera replied. "He said with as many Pokemon migrating from Johto that competition for grazing would be stiff."

"Well, whoever _professor_ is," the Mareep said. "He was right. There are too many of us here…and it's not all that big really. That's why lately I had been stealing from the crops of those humans over there. You should see their faces wheneverI really _do_ get away with a meal…" He gave a mischievous grin and chuckled lightly. "But lately it's been harder than usual. Guess they beefed up security. Say, kid, you said something about being on the road, didn't you?"

Sam looked at him sheepishly.

"Um, well, first my name is Sam," he replied. "Sam Turner, but just call me by my first name, kay? Second, we're travelling. We won't be in the same place for very long and we'll be doing _a lot_ of walking."

"Back in my home my herd, um…" he looked sideways with a melancholy expression. "Back when I _had_ a herd at least…we would often move from meadow to meadow in search of places to graze. Is it sort of like that?"

Sam's eyes rolled to the side as he tried to figure the best way to confirm what he'd just said.

"Um…yeah, sort of like that," he answered. "We'll be moving around a lot but instead of grazing I'm going to need you and Cera to battle. We need to battle against other trainers just so that we can eat."

"Hmm," the Mareep moaned. "I'm not much of a fighter, I don't think."

"Sam can change that," Cera replied optimistically. "I've gotten stronger just a day after being with him."

"What happened to your herd?" Cera asked.

The Mareep sighed mournfully.

"Humans took them," he replied. "We had just arrived here in these meadows, after spending so many days trekking across mountains that I gave up counting. We even lost some along the way. We'd spied a few humans who'd been watching us for quite a while during the morning. Later, in the evening, they came by and captured them all in masses. I barely escaped along with a handful of others. D-do you know where they could have taken my mother and sisters? Are they d-dea…gone?"

Cera looked up at Sam, their expressions mirroring with equal acknowledgement. He bent down toward the Electric-type.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But your herd was taken to be…to be used as electrical power supplies. They use the power you Electric-types generate to fuel power cells. We don't have them in Pallet because well, we just can't afford it but they'll be used as living power sources in Viridian. They'll be kept alive but they'll live terribly cramped in a tiny space for the remainder of their days. There's nothing we can do."

Sam could see a in the small Pokemon's eyes a look of mournful understanding.

"Do you still want to come with us?" Cera asked.

"Well, it can't be as bad as staying here," the Mareep replied to the Smoochum.

Sam gestured for the two of them to follow him as he walked down the dirt path. Cera and the Mareep continued beside him as he smiled down at his newest Pokemon.

"So what's your name?" Sam asked.

The Mareep gave another melancholy expression.

"Well," he began to answer. "I had one with my herd, but I don't think I'd like to be called it by you. It just wouldn't feel the same."

"I can give you a new name if that's what you'd like," Sam said.

After nodding, Sam found him struggling to think of a name for the Pokemon. He picked one, a name he remembered one of his neighbors who left for war having.

"How about, Judeau?" he asked.

The Mareep nodded slowly in response as they continued their way down the route.

{}

Sam looked to the side to see he had passed the sign that told him he was headed for Route 22. The difference in terrain was evident as the land was pretty flat, not as hilly as the meadows between Pallet and Viridian.

The dirt road extended on top of a dam that held the water of a pond and below it lay the low-lying fields. In the distance he could Pidgey flying low above the ground and Nidoran prowling near the edge of the pond. The field's grass was very choppy in length. In some part of the field the grass looked as though it had been torn off at the root, while other parts there was still a nub of the blade left, while some stretched of the field looked as though the grass weren't much taller than an average lawn's.

"You ever been through here, Judeau?" Sam asked carefully, not sure if the Mareep was used to his new name.

"Sure have," he answered. "It used nice place to graze on and plenty to drink…or it would be if the Pokemon here weren't so overcrowded. I don't know how many kinds there are but they're usually all fighting for territory."

"Then we should be careful about approaching this area," Cera remarked.

"Cera, you get on my right," Sam said. "Judea, cover my left."

His two Pokemon did as they were told. The boy readied a Pokeball, grabbing one from the contents of his bag and enlarging it. Sam held it to his chest as they walked toward the field of grass. He noticed Cera putting her arms in front of her and Judeau instinctively lowering his head.

The meadow was silent for a moment, with no movement in Sam's sight. They trekked through the area of overgrazed grass when Cera alerted them to a potential catch.

"Look over there," the Smoochum said. Judeau and Sam turned to the left to see their first encounter on this route.

They looked up at a tree to saw a Mankey hanging off a branch with one hand. Sam immediately felt fearful. He'd heard of trainers that had stirred up Primape herds that tore them limb from limb. Despite being herbivores, they were quick to jump into battle. Sam looked around to see if there were any other Mankey surrounding the individual Pokemon.

"You want to try and catch it, Sam?" Cera asked.

"Well-" he tried to say.

"Don't worry, guys," Judeau interrupted. "I've got this."

Before they could stop him, the Mareep walked to the base of the tree before looking up at the monkey-like Pokemon from below.

{Judea's POV}

He stared up at the Mankey casually swinging from the branches. When she spotted him, the Mankey looked down at him.

"Hey, Fasha!" he yelled up. "I have big news!"

She dropped to the ground in front of him. "What is it Sora?" she asked.

"I don't go by that name anymore," the Mareep said. "The name's Judeau."

"Ju-ju-what?" Fasha asked. "Why?"

"That's what my human named me," he said. "I was caught by a human in one of the little red balls they throw to catch us Pokemon. And guess what?! That means no more having to survive here?! No more having to scrape at the bare ground for the last remains of grass just to make it through the day!"

"Oh," she said, somewhat depressed now. "I'm glad you're happy, but if you won't be around…well, the rest of my kind had enough of you newcomers after the Ponyta herd came in and just left in droves. You're one of the few friends I have left. I hope they treat you nicely."

"Yeah," Judeau said. "That's why you should come with us."

"To go where, Sora, I mean-?" Fasha asked. "Is it safe? Those humans, won't they-?"

"Apparently this human kid feeds himself by battling with other trainers," Judeau replied. "I know it sounds dangerous, but instead of really trying to stick it out here, we have what's sure to be a definite source of a meal. I was pretty skeptical at first but, well…what better options do we have?"

"Well I'm not acting like here is a great option," Fasha answered. "I was considering leaving this place after a lot of the other Mankey did to but that doesn't mean I'll just take _any_ option. NO human is just going to boss me around and tell me what I can and cannot do. Living unsafely is better than living without freedom. How do you know he can even be trusted?"

"It is but…" Judeau sighed. "Where were you honestly going to go? Look, come with Sam and me. He's not real bad like all the other humans I've come across. He offered me food. With any luck we can get out of here and survive other human's Pokemon. It's either risking it out here or with us. If we can survive the wild, how hard could these humans be?"

Fasha sighed. She looked around, obviously rolling this over in her head.

"Well," she said. "I _don't_ have anywhere to go. The others just kind of left in aimlessly drift so, I guess I could join you guys."

Judeau nodded.

"You won't regret it," he replied. He led her to Sam and Cera who were standing there patiently, both of whom had been obviously waiting for them. "So, is this our new team member?" Sam asked.

"Sure is," Judeau said.

Fasha whipped toward Judeau.

"Did you just speak human?!"

The Mareep nodded.

"Sure did," he did, switching back to their own Pokemon speech. "Apparently you can speak it as soon as you get into the Pokeball it does something to you so you can instantly speak human and understand them!"

Fasha's eyes widened at the remark before looking back up at Sam.

"Well, what's her name?" Sam asked.

"Oh, her name is-" Judeau said in human language.

"No, Sora—I mean, Judeau!" Fasha said.

The Mareep looked at her, confusedly as she sheepishly looked at the ground. Cera looked confused at her too.

"Why?" he asked. "What's the matter?"

"Well," she said. "To a Mankey, the name 'Fasha' means, 'one who stands still'. In other words, tries to not fight. It wouldn't carry the same meaning in human language."

"That's right," Cera said, also speaking in the same Pokemon language. "Pokemon names don't carry the same weight in human language and often just plain don't sound right. When humans give names, it's more about an identity, while with Pokemon, names are meant to be representations of an individual. It...It's really complicated from what the professor could explain."

"If its okay I'd like to name myself," Fasha said. "I'd like to be called um…a human name."

"Like what?" Cera and Judeau asked.

"Um…" she said. "It's a name I heard once…a human said…I've wanted my name to be that ever since I heard it. It was…Jackson."

"Jackson?" Cera asked. "I—that's a male's name, I think."

"Well," Judeau said. "It doesn't matter." Judea looked back up at Sam and prepared to form what the human spoke in his mouth. "Sam, my friend Mankey would like to call herself by a new name now. She'd like to be called Jackson?"

"Isn't that a guy's—never mind," Sam said.

The boy took a Pokeball from his pack as he gently lowered himself to Fasha's level. The next moment, the ball opened and enveloped the monkey-like Pokemon in a flash of red light.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam tightened the wet lid on the last of his three canteens that were now full to the brim. It had been a good thing they had stumbled upon this pond, the freshwater would be their water supply until they could find another source. He turned to his Pokemon.

"Hey guys," Sam said. "They're all full."

"Finally," Jackson groaned as she swept the legs of a Houndour. "Been holding off these guys for a while now."

"Good to hear it," Cera answered. She lifted her arms and blasted back a Hoothoot with a wind of small but countless ice crystals—a new trick she'd learned. "I'll take a drink about now." Jackson and Cera both walked from the grass to bend over to dip their lips into the water.

Sam looked to see they were covered in cuts and bruises from their battles. A moment later his Mareep waddle over after having a scuffle with a Zigzagoon, cut up, pummeled just like his other Pokemon. However, it was worth it to see the static running along his fur as Judeau had learned how to use Thundershock. After their drinks Sam sprayed their wounds down with the potion in his backpack. Sam then led his Pokemon away from the edge of the pond in a hurry. He swished the contents of the bottle before depositing it in his pack, hearing that the bottle was now less than half-full.

"Not much left guys," Sam said. "We need to use this sparingly."

"Well don't sound like we caused it," Jackson said. "Although, I've been meaning to give these gangs of Pokemon an ass whooping. These guys don't let anyone go near the watering hole unless you fight them for it. Makes just taking a casual drink a pain in the ass."

"Another reason I'm not regretting leaving this place," Judeau said.

He looked up at the horizon to see it was dusk already. Sam sighed as the thought of where to sleep hadn't occurred to him until just now. He knew the Pokemon Center offered rooms for a small fee to trainers but he had no money. And there were no real trainers in the area until Viridian Forest…He put the thought of the place out of his mind.

"So," Sam said. "Where do you think we should set up camp for the night?"

"Good question," Cera answered. "I doubt we could find a room in Viridian City. Those don't come cheap. Sam do you think it would be safe to sleep around here for the night?"

"Sure would," Judeau replied. "I'll take you guys to where I usually bed down for the night. We're headed in the general direction right now."

"Lead the way, Judeau," Sam said as he relaxed his shoulders. "I'm bushed."

The three of them followed the Mareep deeper into the grass. While they did, Jackson was explaining some things to Cera.

"Well, yeah, Mankey are _really_ prone to bruising whatever rubs them the wrong way," Jackson answered. "However, for whatever reason, I just got sick of it pretty early on. I will say I'm more rational than my fellow Mankey."

"Oh," Cera replied. "I've never been out in the wild before and Oak would tell us to watch out for Mankey and Primape. He even told us their own species has to watch out to not disturb one of its kind."

"Yeah," Jackson replied. "Guess the reason I never thought much of anger was because I lived in a fairly peaceful patch o' tree, where humans didn't usually bother us Pokemon and vice-versa. However, that is beginning to change with the arrival of the Newcomers."

"Newcomers?" Sam asked.

"That's what they call us who came from somewhere else to live in Kanto," Judeau replied. "I wasn't aware of how many of us there were until my herd tried to settle hear. It's not that great where we come from. Anyway, my place!"

Judeau stopped in front of one of the few patches of long grass that looked like it had been downed a couple times by someone laying in it. Seeing as how it was almost dark, the four of them immediately sat down to retire to the soft grass. Judeau downed the grass with all four feet before lying down comfortably. Cera tried to awkwardly sit down and lie in the grass, obviously not used to the outdoors. Sam began to reward himself for the day's long walk by sitting down and gulping down some of the dried meat he'd stored in his tin, almost forgetting he hadn't eaten anything the whole day. Only Jackson was left standing as she observed over the tall grass vigilantly.

"Us Mankey usually don't go to sleep immediately," she said. "I may as well keep watch."

"Fine by me," Judeau said as he let out a loud yawn.

"How considerate," Cera chimed in.

Sam put the can's lid back over the meat and allowed himself a slice of oran fruit. Just as he finished a slice he handed one to Cera beside him, who was still having trouble as she tossed on the long grass. She looked surprised at first before nibbling the end of the slice.

"I just remembered you haven't had a chance to eat," Sam said. "Just like me."

"How thoughtful," Cera said. "Now if your bag of tricks could just give me a comfortable bed, I'd be in heaven."

"Let me dig around and I'll find something," he chuckled. "After all, I never thought on my first day in this hellhole it'd be this successful. I thought I'd be torn to ribbons the first second I stepped into the wild. Now look at me with three Pokemon and they've already gotten stronger. I wish my mom could see me now, knowing I'm doing alright."

He scoffed at himself with a light chuckle.

"What am I thinking?" Sam said. "She's probably too happy herself in her new apartment in Viridian to care."

The Smoochum, however, was not amused. Cera sighed as she stared at nothing in front of her.

 _Yeah._ He thought. _That sounded pretty bitter._

She was obviously a bit contemplative.

"Sam," she asked. "I don't think you should talk about your mother that way. After all, she did put up with you for as long as she did. I mean, the professor always spoke well of her."

Sam groaned at her.

"I know your right," Sam replied. "But…it's kind of hard to let it go. You know, her being my only family alive and she just lets me go. She didn't even care where I went either…just so long as I fucked off she was happy. I wish _I_ had my own place like that. Where I could control who came in every day. I wonder where it'll be. Viridian would seem nice to live in."

Cera sighed.

"There's been something I've been meaning to ask," Cera said. "Speaking of your family have you ever…wanted to find your father? Like, you just wanted some closure with knowing where he was?"

Sam looked at her queerly, not sure how to respond.

"Not exactly," he answered. "I've thought about wishing I knew what happened to him but I figured he was just dead and they never found him. The war with Johto made a lot of widows for the women in Pallet. 'N fact, Judeau's named after one of the men's name I can remember. Nice guy he was. He was the first guy I can remember to give me sugar and I was only a kid."

"Sugar?" Cera said. "I hear that's rare. What kind was it?"

"Chocolate, I think," Sam said. "When you're a kid, candy solves everything."

"But," Cera continued. "Doesn't it bother you? I mean, your father. That you don' know where you came—I mean, you might not know who they are?"

Sam leaned back into the grass.

"I don't remember my dad very well," he replied. "It's hard to picture him that well in my head. When I think of my father it's easier to remember the wanting and wishing for him to come back so we could be a family again. In fact, that's kind of why I stopped thinking of us as a family. Without my dad, it just wasn't the same."

"But wouldn't you like to…!" Cera tried to say but stopped. "Go back and meet them? Just for a little closure."

"I'm guessing you never knew your family?" Sam asked as he handed the Smoochum another slice of oran fruit.

"No," she said as she nibbled at the fruit slice. "I didn't just have no family…I don't remember having much of anyone for a few miles out…"

Cera yawned and drooped her head forward. She laid back into the grass and yawned again.

"Uh…" she groaned. "I've never fought before and after so much battling…we'll continue this some other time, kay? I can barely stay awake as it is."

"Fine by me," Sam said as put the lid back onto the tin. "I'm sleepy to."

He rested his head into the soft grass blades and threw his elbows above him slightly touching Judeau's wool. His eyelids drooped down and everything began to grow dark for Sam.

{Cera's POV}

 _The rocky shore had never been much of a sight. It was quite plain with craggy red rock made up most of the shoreline with a small path of sand at the bottom of them. Waves washed against the sand, reaching the reddish-black boulders to splash them with salty drops of the ocean. The horizon beyond the ocean was just a low, dim gray as the early morning sun had not even peaked beyond it. The slight breeze that hung in the air blew the scent of salt onto the land made for perfect gliding weather for the Wingull in the distance._

 _Cera could see them as they soared in the air just at the horizon. She'd met one or two of them before when they'd landed on the shore. Watching them glide made her feel lulled into a trance they were just so graceful. She often sat on the black-red rock to watch the sun come up, it had become part of her morning tradition since she could. Watch the gray of the sky turn light, look at some Wingulls, and watch the ocean splash. That last sentence could be her life, as far as Cera was concerned. That and collecting rich moss and lichens that grew underneath the rocks for breakfast. While it wasn't much of a life, it was safe at least._

Keep telling yourself that. _She thought to herself._ The emptiness is driving you crazy and you know it. You don't even know what to call yourself.

 _She was right. The endless cycle of lonely activity after lonely activity had driven her into a feeling of lowness. No matter how many times she would watch the sunrise it would always do it alone. The fact was there was no one else on these shores, only Cera. However, there was a human city, full of buildings and gigantic structures she could only dream of. Maybe, just maybe, if she went there, could the emptiness go away…?_

It was at this time Cera's eyes slowly opened to peak at the first full ray of light. The sun was fully up and it was obviously mid-morning. She looked around to see Sam standing up, looking around at the field. Judeau casually strolled around, content to graze lazily on the grass.

Cera awkwardly came to her legs and let out yawn before walking up to Sam.

"Where is Jackson?" she asked.

"Oh good," Sam said. "I was wondering when you'd wake up. She's off going through the vegetable fields in Viridian to get us our breakfast."

"Isn't that stealing?" Cera immediately asked.

"Hah!" Judeau cried. "Stealing?!"

The Mareep walked up to the Smoochum to give her a load of his big grin.

"You know," he said. "One day while I was grazing I found the remains of Pidgey nest on the ground. The eggs had fallen out and an Ekans was swallowing every one of them. Now…do you think he _stole_ those eggs from the mother Pidgey? Of course he did…and that's just the way things are out in the wild. Where did you live before you came with Sam?"

Cera seemed at loss for words at first. She didn't know how to respond to that. How _could_ she reply to that?

"Um…I'm from the same town Sam's from," she answered. "From Pallet Town, not far from here. I was raised domesticated in a lab for-"

"Judeau, knock it off!" Sam said. "She's not from the wild and you can't blame her for it!"

"Then she shouldn't accuse us of stealing when we're just trying to get a meal," the Mareep said irritantly. "Food is food and you do what you can to survive. If we were ever Ekans we wouldn't think twice about doing the same thing as the one I came across did."

"Still doesn't make it right," Sam said. "That sounds horrifying. How would you like it if your mother found you eaten by a wild Pokemon?"

"Well those Pidgey hatchlings would eventually grow big enough to snatch up juicy little Caterpie," Judeau continued. "I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it happens and what we're doing is no different. So what's _your_ point? You want to make this about who is right? Because to me, the way I've seen it, you humans always seemed like you have quite a few double standards."

"Getting a little off topic aren't we?" Sam said. "Also, high and mighty much?"

"No," Judeau replied. "Just want you to know we're all that Ekans, feeding off who we can to get by."

"Oh, Jackson!" Sam cried with a sigh of relief. "Great timing."

Cera and Judeau turned to see the Mankey jumping toward them while carrying an armful of carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli. She dumped the contents at Sam's feet. Sam sat down in front of the load while beaming a pleasant smile at Jackson.

"Wow, how'd you get all this?" he asked.

"It's something of a skill," Jackson answered. "With a bit of speed we Mankey naturally have and some tactical calculations, you can steal just about anything so long as no one is as fast as you. The real problem was carrying that much without spilling most of it."

"Well, thanks," Sam replied as he began munching on a carrot.

Cera sighed as she picked up a head of broccoli and began eating away at the green of it. It tasted fresh to her even if it was tough to chew. Professor Oak had told her that Smoochum like herself were omnivores but she'd never taken that much of a liking to raw meat. Cera supposed she resembled a human in that regard. Judeau began to dig into a tomato as the red juices splashed against his blue cheeks.

"Better than the grass around here," Judeau said. "I'll say that much."

"Jackson," Sam said as he finished his carrot and picked up a tomato. "You don't want any of this, do you?"

She shook her head.

"I already ate my share of tree leaves yesterday," Jackson answered. "If I need more I'll just crawl up another tree and get some."

"Well," Cera replied in between bites. "Where we'll be headed, you'll have tons of tree leaves."

"Where's that?" Jackson asked.

"Viridian Forest," Sam answered as he finished his tomato. "We're going through there to get to Pewter City."

"Viridian Forest?" Judeau asked as he knocked the remains of his tomato away. "I've heard trainers there try and kill wild Pokemon on sight. I've never been there myself, though."

"Yeah," Sam said as pushed the strap of his backpack on his shoulder. "That's true, as well as worse things. After we eat we need to go see if we can catch another Pokemon before we enter that place."

{Sam's POV}

After breakfast they headed back into Viridian City, the pedestrians eyeing Jackson and Judeau weird as he trekked through. However, they were soon walking down the side of the main road with fewer pedestrians, where Sam headed straight to the dirt path that led directly to Viridian Forest.

"Are we headed to Viridian Forest?" Jackson asked.

"No," Sam said as soon as they stepped onto the dirt path. "We're going to Route two to see if we can catch just one more Pokemon before entering the place."

"Do you not think we're tough enough for it already?" Jackson asked.

"You can never be too prepared when the odds are against you," Sam said.

"And how do you figure the odds are against us?" Judeau asked. "You saw us beat all the gangs of Pokemon just yesterday. We're fighting fit!"

"It's not that I doubt you guys can hold your own," Sam answered. "But people like Alex—a guy I made enemies with back in Pallet Town—has been preparing for the League journey for maybe half his life and he still isn't sure of himself."

Sam eyed a sign that had Route 2 written on it. Sam looked to see the land had gone from extremely flat to where it rose on incline and opened with thickets of trees to the sides of the road.

"Really, huh?" Judeau snickered. "Seems to me you're just scared."

"The League challenge is no laughing matter," Cera commented. "Travelling trainers are at risk of fatal injury by vicious wild Pokemon, running out of supplies, and especially getting lost in hostile territory. I could go on."

Judeau scoffed at the Smoochum and then smiled.

"Of course there's danger," he said. "No need to tell _me_ that. Our kid here's just getting his wool in a knot—that's all."

"Oh, Judeau," Jackson sighed.

They walked like this for a while, chatting casually, snipping back and forth with each other. With Pidgey chirping in the distance, it took Sam's mind off the pressure he was having. Sure he was on the lookout for wild Pokemon, but he waiting mostly until they reached the patch of grass up ahead. He was beginning to think he had a mistake, maybe this journey was turning out better than he expected. Maybe he would make it out alright.

"Excuse me!"

Sam and his Pokemon turned to see a brunette girl in a pink dress jogging towards them. She finally stopped in front of Sam.

"Excuse me, sir," she said. "But you are a trainer, right?"

"Um…yeah," he answered.

She fished in her dress's pocket to pull out a dirty Pokeball. From the clear red top, Sam could see a green figure inside.

"I found it on the roadside, half-buried in the ground," the girl said. "I was concerned for the Pokemon's safety, but I'm not a trainer. Would you mind taking care of it?"

"Sure," Sam replied as the girl handed him the Pokeball. The girl ran off down the dirt path behind them. Sam peered down through the clear red top. He couldn't tell if the green creature inside was asleep or not because it appeared to not be moving.

"Well that was odd," Cera said.

"What trainer would leave a Pokemon lying in the dirt?" Jackson asked. "Could they have deliberately wanted to get rid of it?"

"Only one way to find out I guess," Sam shrugged and opened the Pokeball.

In a flash of red light, a thin-limbed lizard-like Pokemon with a thick tail and light green skin appeared. His eyes were a bright yellow and his snout of a mouth breathed in and out rapidly. When he looked into Sam's eyes, the boy read confusion in them.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked.

Sam blinked at him, slightly disturbed at the question. The boy fished for his Pokedex in his backpack and opened it, pointing the blue eyepiece at the Pokemon. It identified the Pokemon as a Treecko, the Wood Gecko Pokemon. It was apparently Grass-type that lived its entire lifespan in the thick forests.

"Um…you're on Route two," Sam replied. "In Kanto."

He looked around, obviously disturbed at this. The Treecko looked around as if the place was alien to him. If Sam didn't know better he would have thought he was hopelessly lost.

"Um…where did you come from?" Cera asked. "Who was your trainer before?"

"Do you know what they looked like?" Jackson asked.

The Treecko kept jerking his head around as if he trying to find a way out as though he were trapped. After a minute or so he stared at Sam and his Pokemon, but not as though he was staring directly at them, but more like he was looking _past_ them.

"Are—are you lost?" Cera asked. "Because-"

"Where…where am I?" The Treecko asked.

"Route two," Sam repeated. "Kanto."

The Treecko looked down at the ground, as though he was finally defeated.

"So this is where I wind up, huh?" He asked rhetorically. "Where did you find me?"

"Your Pokeball was found half-buried in the ground," Cera answered. "It's possible you were abandoned by your trainer. You—you shouldn't rule out the possibility, even if it is an uneasy-"

"That evil human," the Treecko said. "She cared nothing for me."

The Treecko glared aimlessly past her, seeming to take in her words detachedly.

"Are you alright?" Judeau asked.

"Guys," Jackson said solemnly. "I think he's…he needs some space."

"I am sorry," he said. "I—who are you?"

"My name is Sam," the boy replied. He bent his waist down to the Grass-type's level and gestured to his Pokemon behind him. "These are my Pokemon, Cera, Jackson and Judeau. Where do you come from?"

"Somewhere far away," the Treecko replied. "I can assure you it is far from here. I just—it is a forest that no longer stands."

"Why, what happened to it?" Sam asked.

There was a long pause after that with the Treecko's head slightly bowed and Sam's Pokemon silent with him.

"Oh, I'm-" Sam started to say.

"If you want to," Cera said. "You can come with us."

The Treecko was silent for a moment before responding with a quick, "I don't know." Sam was still trying to keep himself quiet, not wanting to be too obvious about his enthusiasm for getting a new Pokemon. He swallowed hard before asking another question.

"What is your name?" Sam asked.

"Leif," he answered.

"Well…" Jackson said. "If you nowhere to go the best thing would be to come with us. It's not like you have any better options."

"I suppose you're right," the Treecko replied. "Could I go back into that ball? There's nothing more I want to see out here."

Sam obliged the Wood Gecko Pokemon as he opened the Pokeball for him. They all watched as he was sucked inside.

"So I guess that counts as our catch for this route," Cera said.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "Let's keep moving."

"Going to Viridian Forest already?"

Sam whirled around to see Alex standing behind him, wearing a deadpan grin. Sam immediately tensed up.

"What's up with you?" Sam asked.

"Who's he?" Jackson asked.

"A long time…rival I guess you could say," he replied. "His name is Alex."

"Is this the guy you told us about?" Judeau asked.

"It sure is," Sam replied.

"I just observed your little chat with the Treecko—Leif I remember his name was—and decided you're not as bad off as I thought you were," Alex mused. He took a Pokeball from his waist and enlarged it. "But that doesn't mean I'm letting you off easy. We're having a battle right now!"

"Sam doesn't have to battle you!" Jackson cried.

"Yes he does," Alex said sternly. "When a trainer's eyes meet, if either one want to battle, a battle _must_ take place. League rules."

Sam sighed. Alex was being stubborn as usual and wouldn't let up. Maybe he was giving them the advantage of having the same kind of spar like yesterday…

"Fine," he replied. "A real battle, I guess?"

"To-the-death," Alex replied.

Sam gulped and he saw as his Pokemon tensed up.

"To-the-death?!" Judeau asked.

"That's low down," Jackson cried.

"Think of it as a test of your abilities," Alex said. "Sam, you better be giving me your all because I am NOT going to be holding back like I did last time. In what little time you've had, you better have made some damn progress. But hell, I'll even give you the advantage of having only a two-on-two battle, so you'll only have to use that many of your party. Go, Zubat!"

Alex flung his Pokeball forward and from the red light emerged a blue winged mammal with no eyes and small fangs. Sam's mind raced with panic but he tried to remember the type advantages. Zubat was a Flying-type so he had a good chance against it…

"I'll take this one," Cera volunteered.

"Good," Sam replied. "Get in there Cera."

She stepped forward in front of Sam, just as she had done last time. Sam breathed heavily as heard Alex make the first command.

"Zubat use Leech Life!"

The Flying-type screeched as it dived down at the Smoochum, but Cera ducked out of the way of the Zubat's fangs. His starter Pokemon looked afraid and shaken.

"Cera use Powder Snow!"

She turned around to raise her arms at the Zubat and unleashed a blast of fine ice at it. The Flying-type was consumed by the Ice-type attack with a howl of pain and fell to the ground with frost covering the edges of its wings. The Smoochum looked mortified at the sight of its body.

"I—didn't mean-" Cera stuttered.

"Return." Alex recalled the Zubat but the Pokeball's transparent red top turned a bluish-gray. Alex tossed the Pokeball to the ground.

Cera raced toward Sam, sobbing where he bent down and caught her in his hands. Her tears began wetting the sleeve of his shirt.

"I—it wasn't meant to—I didn't…" she said.

Sam, knowing nothing else to do, started petting her blond crop of hair awkwardly.

"First killing in a real battle, obviously," Alex said. "Sam, every trainer knows that Pokemon must become desensitized to death if they are to continue forward and survive-"

"Well, Cera may not be experienced at it," Jackson interrupted. "But I sure as hell am, whether I like it or not."

She rubbed her knuckles.

"Magby," Alex said dully as he called out his second Pokemon. The red Pokemon emerged standing at attention.

"Arthur," Cera sighed as she came from Sam's arms and looked up at her friend.

"Judeau, go," Sam said.

"But, I-" Jackson started.

"He's a better match-up against him," Sam said sternly.

The Mareep stepped forward while glaring at his opponent. Sam was about to call out an attack, but, just like the first time, Alex was faster.

"Magby use scratch!"

The Magby closed the distance between himself and the Mareep faster than Sam could see and clawed out a tuft full of wool from Judeau. He cried out in pain and let a Thundershock out in response. The electricity shocked Arthur alright but he was clearly not phased very much. He went back to clawing Judeau and kept scratching right at the Mareep's face. He drew back at this but not before the Magby let out a cry of pain.

"Ah!" Arthur cried.

Sam was surprised at first before he saw the electricity running across his body. Sam remembered the professor telling him something about this happening with Electric-types.

"Damn!" Alex cried. "Static!"

"Judeau, keep using Thundershock!" Sam yelled.

The Mareep charged another electric attacks into the Fire-type Pokemon. However, this time instead of getting up, Arthur just fell onto his back, too paralyzed to move. Sam tensed up as he heard Arthur's screams of pain as Judeau pumped another Thundershock into the Magby.

"Judeau, please stop!" Cera cried.

Judeau turned to her, obviously confused. Sam nodded at him and then looked to Alex. The boy returned his Pokemon as suggested. Alex fished into his pocket before pulling out a wallet and giving Sam three neat dollars each worth five bucks.

"Sam," Alex sighed. "I'm not going to act like I'm not grateful…but I don't want you to expect to be able to do the same in the future. Sparing Pokemon in battle will not be a common occurrence."

Sam glared back at him with disdain.

"Do you _like_ Pokemon having to gore each other to death?" he asked. "Does that seem fair to you?"

"There is no such thing as fairness," Alex said. "It doesn't exist, it has never existed, and probably never will. And the funny thing is, I think you know that."

Sam gave an expression of uneasy understanding. Alex sighed and walked away. Once he was gone, Cera silently thanked Sam for what he had done. He began to tend to Judeau's wounds by applying his scars with a potion.

"Well," Sam said. "That was one battle we survived."

"We need to keep moving," Jackson said. "It's already afternoon."

Sam nodded, putting the potion back into his pack before continuing forward.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam led his Pokemon by the meadow's edge as to avoid the tall grass. He watched the Rattatta chase each other and Hoothoot hunt for seeds from afar. Cera seemed somewhat quiet as Jackson swung from the trees up ahead of Sam and Judeau walked to his trainer's right side. Without anyone speaking it was peaceful but the silence allowed Sam to hear his own panicked heartbeat. Though he wouldn't admit it to his Pokemon, Sam had no idea how they'd survive Viridian Forest. It wasn't until Jackson said something that the relative quiet was broken.

"Sam," she said and dropped down from the branches. "I see a building up ahead."

"Really?" he stopped and asked. "All the way out here? What did it look like?"

"It looked bigger than a human house and had a domed roof," Jackson answered.

"Hmm," Sam muttered to himself. "Domed roof…doesn't ring a bell. Let's go take a look."

They walked until the meadow was behind them, where Sam could see Jackson was right in her description of the building, in front of the stumps of many cut trees. It stood in between two large trees in the middle of a tree-line that was fenced off by a ten foot tall wooden fence. The structure was more elongated and much wider than an ordinary house was and had a rounded, yet pointed roof. The walls were brown and the roof was a sea green color. There were walls that were split down the middle into two sections that looked to be able to slide apart.

"Huh," Sam sighed. "I remember the professor telling me something about these things. They're in front of routes usually…?"

"Yes, this must be a gate," Cera replied. "They're often standing in front of routes to serve as rest houses or places to take directions for travelers or trainers. Sam, knock on the sliding door twice."

He did as she said and within the next moment the doors slid open.

"Neat," Judeau said.

The four of them walked in to find a surprisingly spacious and comfy looking interior. The floors were bedded with soft-looking, yellow-orange carpet and there were about five tables with three chairs to each one. Sam identified five trainers sitting in the tables, one man applying a spray medicine to his Cubone and a girl tending to her injured Torchic.

At the front of the building, standing to the left side of the doorway, was a tan-faced man wearing dark green and brown rain cloak-looking garments and matching straw hats connected to the cloaks by head fabric, obviously colored for purposes of camouflage. They carried sheathed machetes and walkie-talkies at their sides. Sam looked to his side to see another man wearing the same camouflaged cloak cranking a wheel, which Sam presumed he used to let him in.

"Hello," he said. "I'm Lieutenant Halders. What have you come here for?"

"I'm a new trainer," Sam said. "I'd like to pass through Viridian Forest to arrive to Pewter City."

"Have a seat," the lieutenant said as he led Sam and his Pokemon to a table. He sat across from Sam as he began to engage him in conversation.

"I take it you've never crossed through these woods before," Halders asked.

"That's true," the boy replied. "I've lived in Pallet my whole life."

"Well, I hope you're informed of wild Pokemon's hostile behavior toward humans," he said. "Especially in Viridian Forest."

"I…I've heard of that," Jackson said as she jumped into a chair beside Sam. "Is it true there are there other places like that…with wild Pokemon so?"

"I'm afraid they're all like that," Halders said. "It keeps us from travelling between Routes much. Most townsfolk hardly step out of their city boundaries. You'll find the community of Pewter City have repeatedly tried laying road foundations to meet with Viridian but these woods…they're too untamed."

"Really?" Judeau asked as he approached him from the floor below. "How long has that been? I meant, the wild Pokemon's aggression."

Halders sighed and looked down at himself solemnly.

"For a long time," he said. "However, it's not a problem in these here parts. Now, a word of warning before you and your party enter you need to have at least two Pokemon with you at all times. I'm sure you are aware of this forest's dangers so please, keep all of your Pokemon out at once for your own protection. The trainers out there are and many camp in groups, so I suggest you try finding places where they have formed those groups."

"I understand," Sam said.

"Do you want to go in now?" the Lieutenant asked. "If so we'll need you to stand in front of the doorway as we open it."

"Yes sir," he replied.

"Alright," the older man answered and walked to the doorway. Sam stood up from his chair and followed him as he plucked Leif's Pokeball and released him. The Treecko stood beside him as he looked up at Sam curiously.

"Leif, I know you may not want to be out," the boy said. "But I need you to stay out because we're going through a place with dangerous Pokemon. You need to help protect us."

"I will do what I can," he replied.

Sam and the rest of his Pokemon walked directly in front the second doorway. His Pokemon stood beside Sam as the Lieutenant began cranking the wheel to the right of the door. The doors slid backs into the inner walls, revealing the outside.

"Now, go," Halders ordered.

The five of them walked out into the open as the doors slid behind them. Sam stepped onto short grass as he took in the scenery around him. The forest canopy was thick enough overhead to block out about half the sunlight, making Sam wonder how anything grew beneath it. The trees' trunks were thick with age and moss grew on many of them where the occasional Caterpie attempted to climb up. In between the trees there was so much shrubbery that you couldn't see past it, as though whatever empty space there could have been was replaced with green. If Sam looked close enough, he could make out the forms of Bug-type wriggling around in the undergrowth. There were trainers wearing the same uniformed cloaks as Lieutenant Halders was walking around with their Bug-type Pokemon following them. Sam didn't know whether to be dazzled by the beauty of the forest or afraid of its murky depths. The strange confusion of emotions actually gave him a bit of a calm as he tried to figure out what direction to take.

"I…I think we should go straight forward," Sam said.

"Alright," Judeau replied. "Soon as we get done with _that_ guy."

Sam turned in the direction Judeau was gesturing to see a boy in camouflage cloaks nearing him with his Caterpie and Weedle following. By the look in his eyes, Sam immediately knew what he wanted.

"I'd like to have a battle with you," he said. "It's fun to see new faces."

Sam sighed as he looked to his Pokemon to see who should go. That was, until Jackson stepped forward.

"I'll have a go against these guys," she said.

"You sure?" he asked. "You're not the best type match up. And besides, I thought you didn't like to fight and this match is to the death."

"I try to absolve conflicts without fighting," Jackson replied. "It doesn't mean I won't stand up for my team. I would rather risk myself getting hurt rather than Sora or Cera."

"Doesn't matter!" the boy said excitedly. "Get ready to be rocked!"

Jackson rolled her eyes.

"You sure you'll be alright?" Cera asked at her.

"Relax," Judeau replied. "She'll whop these worms."

"I heard that!" the boy's Weedle replied. "We'll beat you in no time!"

"We've managed to beat Pokemon as big as you," the Caterpie said.

The boy sent his Caterpie to face the Mankey. Sam readied himself mentally as he prepared to call out an attack. However, he wasn't able to call out the first attack.

"Use Tackle!" the boy cried.

The Worm Pokemon charged at Jackson then jumped at her but she easily dodged it with a light jump and came back down behind the Caterpie.

"Hit it with Scratch!" Sam cried.

Jackson whirled around to leap at the Bug-type and rake over its body with her small claws. She tore off skin as wailed into the fragile Pokemon's body, dark-green blood splattering onto her fur until it finally lay still. Its beady eyes tilted at an unnatural angle and its body curved in a very awkward position, making Sam gag.

"Ahh," the boy said. "Not this soon!"

"Olly!" the Weedle cried. "What did you do…?"

"Go get 'em Weedle!" the boy said.

Sam watched as the Bug and Poison-type inched up to Jackson as he reared the point on his head at her. His beady eyes were contorted into a hard leer of rage.

"Use Poison Sting!" the boy cried.

The Weedle launched its body at Jackson who jumped back. The Mankey did this each time the Weedle tried to make another charge at her with its poisonous stinger. It didn't occur to Sam until Jackson was comfortably far away from her opponent to do something.

"Jump beside him and scratch it!" he ordered.

Jackson dodged another advancement by the Weedle with a small leap and then turned to the side to face her opponent. She then swiped at its face with her claws, leaving gashes in its thin skin leaking with green blood. The Weedle's trainer looked stressed right now.

"String shot!" he said.

The Weedle fired a string of white silk from beneath its round mouth that hit Jackson, sticking her limbs to her body with the gross stuff.

"Poison Sting!" the boy cried.

The Weedle charged at Jackson with its stinger. At this point the Mankey would have usually dodged but the string shot kept her immobilized as she was stabbed in the chest by the small barb. But just as Sam tensed up the sight of her being hit, Jackson grabbed the Pokemon by its long body, pulled it up, and scratched it down the length of its body. The Weedle's body fell to the ground, deflated and torn to shreds. Sam sighed a breath of relief as he saw the boy look on at the carnage with a frown.

"Ahh," he said. "Two deaths in one battle…! I needed that money for some antidotes!"

Sam was taken aback by the boy's apathy for his Pokemon's death. He honestly didn't seem like he cared in the slightest for their killing right in front of him, making Sam wonder if this boy was possibly laughing it off for emotional compensation. But as he observed, he wasn't.

He flipped up his cloak to reveal his jeans underneath. He dipped his hand into his pocket and handed Sam about eighteen dollars in cash.

"Well, battle's a battle," the boy said. "I'll need go catch some more Pokemon. Maybe I could find a Flying-type next time."

"Wait," Sam said. "I thought you could only catch the first Pokemon per area?"

"Yeah," he answered. "For most trainers with no patrolling or gym affiliation it is. We on the other hand…so long as we stick to our jobs and have a license to do so, we can catch lots more Pokemon…though we do have our own limit our bosses set for us, so it evens out."

 _He's talking about replacing them like he they're easily interchangeable._ Sam thought. _Are they're lives just worthless to him?_

Sam, in trying to act like he wasn't bothered, shrugged and sighed.

"I hope you have money for Pokeballs then," Sam said coolly as he fit the dollar bills into a pocket within his pack where he stowed away the winnings from he won from Alex. The boy shrugged.

"Eh…" he sighed. "I got a friend who owes me, so he'll probably give me some extra cash. Most of our money comes from battle winnings."

As he walked away, Sam knelt down by his Mankey to observe the wound in her chest as she tore the silk off of herself.

"Its fine," Jackson replied tersely. "The puncture was shallow and most of it was blocked by my fur. No poison got through."

"Alright," Sam said. "I can't use the potion on such a small wound. We don't have enough to spare for such a small one. Can you believe that kid barely seems to acknowledge his Pokemon were killed before?"

"Why should it be a shock?" Judeau asked. "Pokemon die all the time in the wild. This kid obviously knows this. Hell, even to other Pokemon seeing death is just common knowledge. Why would humans feel different about seeing them die?"

"Sam has a point though," Cera said. "That boy acted like he lost lives he'd replace next week. How callous is _that_?"

"I think I agree, Cera," Jackson replied. "If I lost one of my fellow Mankey I'd be mournful for their lost and that boy talked as though they were lost items. I'm not going to lie, I feel bad I had to put to death two innocent lives. The blood on my paws…" she said as she looked at the green liquid splattered there "…it just doesn't feel right."

Sam turned away from his Mankey to the rest of his Pokemon to see he was minus one Treecko. He looked around a moment before seeing the Grass-type emerge from a bush and walk towards Sam.

"What is it, Leif?" Sam asked.

"I was doing some observation during your fight," Leif replied. "And I've found the best possible route to take. This forest is so thick it's hard for anyone without superb agility to navigate it. However, the Pokemon here are unusually riled up…they may even be-"

"Yeah, we know," Cera said. "We've heard it before."

Leif glared at her passively before gesturing for them to follow him.

"We should follow him," Sam said to the rest of his party. "Let's go."

They followed behind the Treecko to crash through some dense shrubbery. What parts of Sam's skin that was not covered by his clothes were immediately cut by thorns. Sam felt suffocated by greenery as he felt his Judeau and Cera shuffle beneath him awkwardly to make it through the undergrowth. Jackson climbed up into the bushes so she wasn't as bad off as they were.

However, there was a narrow passage of space that Leif was leading them through. He was apparently trying to keep himself visible to them by constantly wagging his dark green tail as otherwise he would be mostly blended into forest's thick growth. All the while, Sam could hear intense rustling within the dense forest.

"You," Leif called out. "The Mankey, could you-"

"I am Jackson," she yelled back at him.

"Yes, Jackson," he said. "Could you keep a look out from behind me? I can't keep a good lookout from this angle. These woods are so thick."

She leaped out from her position in the shrubs and caught the branches up ahead to travel by leaping from limb to limb. All the while, in Sam's ears, the rustling in the woods began to grow louder. He breathed heavily as he looked from Cera to Judeau, making they were still by his side as his heart pulsed with fear.

"This shit is getting in my wool," the Mareep groaned as he pulled against twigs and thorns that had been accumulating in his yellow wool. "I feel like I can barely move in this place."

Cera was having trouble brushing her way past bushes until she was stopped by a pink worm slithering out in front of her. Sam stopped and turned to see it was Wurmple, who pointed itself at Sam and spat out a thin stream of silk. He barely ducked in time to dodge before the Wurmple began charging at him. Cera lashed out at it with her arm, knocking it to the side.

Then, all of a sudden, the rustling made sense as the undergrowth to the sides erupted with Bug-type Pokemon. Sam watched on in horror as he and his Pokemon were surrounding by Caterpie, Weedle, and Wurmple. Sam ducked down as a Weedle launched itself at his head with his stinger.

"Sam, get down!" Jackson cried. Sam looked up to see her kick a Caterpie that had dropped down from the treetops.

{Jackson's POV}

The green worm slammed into a tree with a thud, sliding down in a path of green blood. Jackson landed beside Sam, instinctively covering his right leg as she faced the bugs.

"They're all going after Sam!" Cera yelled. She knocked a Caterpie back and then blasted two Weedle with a Powder Snow, freezing them in their tracks before they wilted like a flower stem in winter. "Don't leave him unguarded!" Cera then aimed her arms and fired blast of fine ice at a Caterpie that had landed on Sam's leg.

"Jackson use scratch!" her trainer cried as he shook a Wurmple off his pack. "Hit them with Low Kick as well to trip them up!"

Jackson immediately tearing into another Caterpie with her claws. In her fury of clawing she slung the scratched up Pokemon into the bushes. Jackson swept beneath a Weedle beside her with her leg after dodging its String shot. Jackson then began jumping at two Wurmple while trying to cover her trainer.

When one Wurmple tackled into her then sent it flying two feet into the air with a Low Kick and then raked its fragile underbelly with her claws. The second Wurmple caught her with a stream of silk but instead of jumping at him, Jackson found he was within arm's length and clawed out his eye. It recoiled as she put gashed into his neck. She was on autopilot now, battling on pure instinct and reaction. If so much as a leaf fell in her line of sight she would attempt to rip in to pieces.

"Judeau use Thundershock around us!" Sam ordered.

"Eat lightning ya' bunch a' parasites!" Judeau yelled as he charged up electricity from his wool. Jackson caught a glimpse of the Mareep as he stood over a Wurmple he had tackled into submission after it had been paralyzed by coming in contact with his fur. Judeau fired thin jolts of electric energy at the Weedle and Wurmple that continued to charge at them from the ground. Their blackened corpses limped to the ground, smoking.

Another Wurmple fell to the ground beside Jackson, this time though she looked to see Leif had knocked it off a tree branch, unconscious.

"Sam!" Leif yelled. "We need to keep moving if you want to survive! Or any of us for that matter!"

"Got it!" Sam yelled back.

Jackson tore the String shot from her body and followed after Sam as he crashed through the thicket of the underbrush, Cera and Judeau catching up behind. Jackson saw that Leif was dashing as fast as he could on the forest floor without Sam losing sight of him. At this point they all knew the Treecko only had only the vaguest sense of where he was leading them as he ran through the least crowded spots of vegetation, but that didn't deter them running like hell away.

Cera and Judeau shot ice and electricity at every Pokemon that jumped at them. At this point the Bug-types were targeting Sam's Pokemon as well as Sam himself. Jackson routinely had to keep scratching at bugs that got in her or Sam's way as she leaped around the forest floor as fast as possible while still trying to make headway.

In their haste they were too late to notice as from the undergrowth a group of Bug-types launched themselves at Sam. Sam fell back to avoid some of them as they flew through the air but two landed on his body, one Caterpie attaching its adhesive legs to his left shoulder and a Wurmple getting on his chest.

Jackson immediately sprang into action as she knocked the Caterpie off her trainer but it stuck to her arm as she did so. She tried to shake it off as fast as she could but no matter how hard Jackson flung her arm the Bug-type fastened on. Jackson turned to see Sam was trying to pull the Wurmple on his chest but it would not let go. She also caught a glimpse of Cera literally covered in Caterpie and Judeau tackling backward a Weedle. Jackson hopped onto Sam's chest as she separated the Wurmple's footing on him from his shirt with a Low Kick. She then started beating the Caterpie wrapped around her arm on the ground until it finally fell off to which she stomped its head in.

Judeau was shocking electric energy into the Caterpie that Cera had knocked off of her. She was keeping Weedle at bay from stinging Sam with her Powder Snow that continued to coat anyone who neared them in a layer of frost. Leif was taking down Bug-types left and right from the tree branches above with strikes from his tail faster than could be made out other than a blur of green.

"Come on guys," Sam groaned as he held his stomach in pain. "We need to keep moving!"

He trudged through the forest floor as Cera and Judeau provided him cover with their ranged attack. They were moving slowly, only getting gradually faster from a dragging speed to a steady walk, but at least they were safe for the most part. Jackson herself kept the rear guard, tripping and scratching the combined force of Caterpie and Wurmple as they charged at her.

The thrashing against the underbrush as Jackson attacked anything that moved, the firing of ice and lightning at bugs, and the combined clash of the sounds drowned out all sense save for the basic will to keep moving forward. Jackson didn't know how long it went on but she lost track of time as she continued fighting.

Just as she clawed to shreds a final Wurmple that had caused her to bleed from her shoulder, Jackson spotted a Weedle poising its stinger at Judeau and subsequently launched herself at the poisonous Bug-type. She scratched its eyes out, causing it to lash out with the stinger on its tail. Jackson was too late at she saw the stinger impale itself into her arm.

"Aaaahhhh!" Jackson screamed.

She fell back off the branch with the Weedle, both of them wriggling in pain. The Mankey felt her vision spinning and the world around her to become a world of spiraling green and dull browns as she saw the lumbering form of her trainer near her. The stinging pain in her arm spread from one spot to her whole limb in a second At this point, she knew she'd been poisoned.

 _I'm done for._ She thought to herself. _This is where it ends._

"Jackson," Sam cried out as he picked her up in his arms. Jackson could feel Sam pulling her close to his chest as she could feel her arm sting with pain as she tried to keep herself from screaming…


	6. Chapter 6

{Sam's POV}

 _Silver-blonde hair flashed in the morning sun. Shallow breathing that made the pillow ripple slightly with every movement. Spindly, weak legs were sheathed beneath the covers as they dared not move. He could only watch on as she moaned weakly and unintelligibly. The room whirled as he could faintly hear sobbing in the corner._

He would not lose another.

Sam dashed for Jackson he saw crying in pain on the forest floor and scooped her up in his arms. He madly stomped on the weakened and blinded Bug-type beside her and saw the thing start to deflate as madly jumped on it. Sam whirled around to turn to Cera.

"Jackson!" he screamed. "Damn it she's been stung! I think she's poisoned!"

"Damn it!" Judeau yelled in anger. The Mareep charged static electricity along his fur to the point Sam instinctively ducked as if he would blow up. He blasted as much electric energy he could into trees overhead and beside him, essentially frying to a crisp much of the vegetation. "You fucking bugs! I'll kill you all where you stand!" Judeau kept firing bolt after bolt into the woods as more and more corpses of worm Pokemon fell either burned or paralyzed by electricity.

"Stop it, Judeau!" Cera yelled. "You'll kill every one of us!"

"We have to get Jackson to a safe place!" Sam yelled as he proceeded to stomp at a Caterpie that neared him. "Leif, where are you?! Where the hell are you?!"

Sam caught a glimpse of movement and turned to Leif at his side, as though he was momentarily visible at will.

"You called?" he asked almost infuriatingly coolly.

"Is there any way in hell to get out of here?!" Sam screamed his question in frustration. The Treecko smacked an incoming Wurmple with a whirl of his tail that flew back into a tree trunk.

"I've actually scouted out up ahead a clearing in the forest," Leif replied. "It's the closest thing to a safe location I could make out as there are other humans there."

"Then lead me there," Sam demanded.

The Treecko gestured and ran forward. Cera, Judeau, and Sam followed after Leif as he fluidly swept through the undergrowth of the forest. It looked ironic as the three of them not-so-gracefully trampled through the vegetation. As they ran it occurred to Sam that there were little to no Bug-type Pokemon getting in their way.

 _Don't worry Jackson. You won't be gone here, not now. You're going to make it with us…you're going to see that big house we're going to afford. All of us, together, I can see you there with us clear as day. It's going to be okay…just hang in there._

Most stayed to the side and seemed to stare passively as they left for where Leif was leading them, watching them as they raced through the forest. Sam flailing his arms to the sides to move the underbrush out of his way. Every time he did so expected to be jumped at by another Bug. Despite the oddity of them not bothering to attack, it was not long before Sam and his Pokemon broke out of the forest to arrive in the clearing.

Sam looked around to see that beneath his shoes was short grass and the trees and growth around him had obviously been cut away for a fairly circular area of a space. He also observed to see two people in camo cloaks sitting around one of the many stone circular shapes where Sam presumed they would start campfires. They were both surrounded by different Bug-type Pokemon. Sam instinctively ran towards and stopped in front a brunette woman who was surrounded by two cocoons, a Venonat, and a Wurmple. He tried to speak but found that all the sounds he could emit were heavy pants.

"What's wrong kid?" she asked. "Bugs wearing ya' out?"

He nodded.

"Excu—use me…ma'am," Cera said in between pants before straightening herself. "But our Mankey friend was…been poisoned by a bug…"

"Could you _please_ help her?!" Judeau demanded.

The woman glared down at the Mareep.

"Son, control your Pokemon!" she said. "I will not tolerate such disrespect from one! That is no way to talk to someone who so easily outranks its trainer!"

Sam turned to Judeau and shook his head. He gave him a good glare right back before Sam turned to the woman.

"Ma'am," he sighed. "My Mankey is poisoned…do you have any medicine you could spare?"

"I sure do," she replied as she lifted her cloak and fished into a pack around her waist. "But I don't expect to be _sassed_ by a _Pokemon_."

Sam could practically feel Judeau strain as he _did_ probably want to talk down to this woman. Truth was, Sam's breathing felt both rapid and shallow with panic as he sensed this strain. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her pull out a yellow-colored spray bottle. She gestured to see the Pokemon in Sam's arms and he knelt the Mankey down. The woman identified the wound on Jackson's forearm and sprayed her whole arm down thoroughly. Jackson weakly touched the spot where she had been stung and sighed.

"The medicine should work if you give it a moment," she said.

"Thank-you," Sam replied desperately. "And I apologize for my Mareep's rudeness."

"Well now," the guy next to her said as he looked at Cera and Leif. "Don't think I'd seen those kinds o' Pokemon before. What are they?"

"I am a Smoochum, sir," Cera answered politely. "And the Grass-type here is a Treecko. We're not exactly um…common."

"Well," the man sighed. "We were just waiting here for a friend of ours to arrive so we could clear a trail down to Viridian City for a supply run. We usually travel in groups as the bugs aren't as likely to get us that way when all our Pokemon are out."

Sam sat down on a log that surrounded the stone circle they used for seats as Jackson crawled out from his arms. He was surprised she recovered so quickly and felt the need to hold her again but figured she would be fine as she took slow steps to stabilize herself on the ground. He watched Jackson sat by Judeau who sat in the grass to rest himself before turning back to the trainer.

"Why aren't the bugs chasing us right now?" Sam asked. "Do they just not attack in clear spaces?"

"It's not necessarily that they won't attack in clear spaces," the woman beside him said. "How many did you and your Pokemon fight off?"

"Tons," Sam replied. "Too many to count."

"Then that explains it," she replied. "The bugs attack in organized waves when humans enter their forest. As soon as they spot one, Bug-type Pokemon routinely gather as many others they know to target that solitary or group of humans. After they've successfully taken them out, or that entire wave of Bug-types were killed, the forest's Pokemon will naturally withdraw from their target and wait to make another strike. They're smart, and wary of attacking in the open, so that's why we've cleared small circles from places in the forest where there are no trees but only undergrowth where we can to rest. Here, they won't be as likely to try and kill you or your Pokemon, instead waiting for the moment to jump within the wood."

"You make them sound as though they're an organized army," Cera replied, who was sitting on the log beside him. "As if their sole purpose _is_ to rid their forest of humans."

"That's kind of what Pokemon here have become," the man next to her said. "The people of Pewter City have tried building roads through the forest I don't know how many times but it has never worked in their favor. All we can do is stay alive and try to keep them from leaving the confines of the fence that surrounds this forest. We routinely kill as many as we can find when we have the chance."

Sam sighed and lowered his head, not content to listen to anymore of the wild Pokemon's terror. He had heard and now seen enough of it that it was mind-numbing. He had never seen so much death before today, so much blood was spilled he needed to gag just thinking about it. Sam wanted to put it out of his mind but the images of the frozen Zubat of Alex's, that one trainer's two Bug Pokemon, and the countless ones his Pokemon slew and almost died fighting just to protect him.

 _Well, maybe besides that one day…_ He thought before putting it out of his mind. No, he wouldn't remember that day, he wouldn't relive it.

 _This is the norm._ He thought to himself. _This is how it will be if you want to survive, if you want to make money, you'll need to accept this. Don't make a big deal of their death. You don't see anyone else doing that do you…?_

"We need to leave," the man said.

Sam lost his train of thought as he saw the man stand up from his seat on the log.

"Come on, Judith," he said. "We've been waiting here for too long. Something must have happened to Michael."

"We can wait," Judith replied. "Michael's probably almost-"

"I'm leaving with, or without you," he said.

Judith sighed.

"Fine," she said. "But I'm having a battle with the kid before we go."

"What?!" Sam jumped in reply.

"You heard me!" she replied before turning to her Bug-type Pokemon that surrounded her.

"Alright," the other trainer rolled his eyes. "Better be quick about it though."

"Hope you're ready, kid," Judith said before walking away to the middle of the clearing with her four Pokemon following her.

Sam turned to his Pokemon, clearly concerned for their sake.

"Guys," he asked. "Can you handle this? I mean, you just lost a lot of health back their battling those Wurmple and everything. How close are you guys to being able to fight?"

"I'll try out against these guys," Jackson replied.

He looked her over, noticing the dotted red bruises on her arm where a Bug latched onto her. Sam immediately shook his head.

"You just got over your poison," Sam said. "You can't-"

"Doesn't mean I got that badly hurt," Jackson replied. "I'm fine compared to everyone else."

Sam looked at his other Pokemon to see she was right. What of Judeau wasn't covered in wool was bloodied and parts of his wool had been ripped into and tattered. The red bruises Sam had witnessed on Jackson's arm covered much of Cera's body. While Leif didn't look so bad, Sam remembered Grass-types having an aversion to Bug-types as well him look having small, shallow puncture wounds in his chest and tail.

"I guess you're right," Sam said.

All four of Sam's Pokemon followed him as he faced Judith in the middle of the clearing. Her Wurmple stood in front of her. Jackson walked in front of Sam, readying to pounce at her opponent as Judith made the first move.

"Wurmple, Tackle!" she cried.

The Worm Pokemon charged at his Mankey with full speed and knocked Jackson back.

"Use Scratch, Jackson!" he yelled.

Unfortunately, she didn't leap into action but weakly stood back up to Sam's surprise. She wobbled weakly as she attempted to gain her footing.

"What…? What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"It's the poison," Cera replied as she stood beside Sam. "She may be cured of it be she accumulated a lot of lost health from it. Jackson may have not realized this until now."

"Wurmple, Tackle again!" Judith cried.

The Worm Pokemon charged again but this time, at the last second before she would be struck, Jackson side-stepped the Wurmple and then sent it flying with a kick beneath its legs.

"Huh," Judeau said snidely. "Looks like she can fight better with _out_ your direction."

As the Worm Pokemon plopped down in front of her on its side, Jackson immediately pounced on it and dug into its vulnerable skin with her small but tough claws. The battle was over within seconds afterward. Judith sighed angrily.

"We're not done yet!" she said. "Cascoon!"

The ovular chrysalis waddled awkwardly in front of its trainer, its one and only eye staring at Jackson.

"Come back Jackson," Sam said. "That's enough."

She walked weakly towards him and slumped to the ground. Sam pulled out the potion from his bag as he sprayed the remainder of its contents on his Mankey.

"You did real well," Sam said as he sprayed her chest before moving to her arm. "Judeau, get in there."

"This'll be a snap," the Mareep said.

And it was. Sam and his Pokemon stood there as Judeau fried the poor Cascoon with volts of electricity. Judith kept ordering it to raise its defense with Harden but it did next to nothing to defend it. It soon laid in the grass as nothing more than an overcooked blob before Judith sent out her Silcoon (Sam couldn't remember what difference there was between the two, something about its evolution, he thought the professor once told the class?) to battle. Sam passively stood as the Mareep blasted it with another Thundershock as it burned before deflating. Judith gave a stern leer at Judeau of anger and disappointment before turning to her Venonat at her side. The Bug and Poison-type Pokemon looked reluctant at the sight it might have to battle, shivering slightly and its eyes full of fear.

"Alright," Judith said. "I surrender. No use fighting a losing battle."

She pulled up from beneath her jacket her wallet to bring out about twenty-five dollars' worth of money. She walked up and handed it to Sam who happily stowed the winnings in his bag.

"Thank-you for wasting your time and getting your own Pokemon killed," her fellow trainer said. "Now can we please make sure Michael is alright?"

"I'm coming, Jerry," Judith replied as she plucked a Pokeball from her waist and released a small Pidgey. Her friend, Jerry, opened two Pokeballs for Sam to see and Oddish and a Caterpie emerge. They began to walk away before Cera tugged at Sam's pant leg.

"Sam," she said. "Don't you think it'd be a good idea to ask for directions to Pewter City while we're here?"

"Oh…yeah," Sam replied. "Excuse me! Can either of you tell me the way out of this forest?"

The two trainers stopped and turned to the boy.

"Depends on which way you're heading," Jerry said.

"Pewter," Sam replied.

Jerry pointed right beside him into the forest.

"Keep headed that way for as far as you can go," he said. "In that general direction you'll find another gate like the one that opens right outside of Viridian? You've been through there, haven't you?"

"I have," he replied.

"Good," Jerry said. "If you keep headed directly straight you should be able to find that gate. Keep your Pokemon out with you if you plan on sleeping here."

The two of them disappeared into the forest as they exited the clearing before Sam looked up at the horizon. He'd only vaguely noticed before but it was almost dusk. He turned to his Pokemon.

"I think we should set up camp," Sam said. "I don't want to tromp through these woods at night."

"We need to rest anyway," Leif said. "None of us have that much strength to face those hordes of Bug-types again."

Sam nodded.

{}

"That was the last of the oran fruit guys," Sam said as he closed the lid on the tin. "I hope it makes you feel better."

"Sure did," Jackson replied. "I'm feeling pretty refreshed."

"Oran fruit naturally restores health to those that eat it," Leif explained. "The trees they grow from were contested over where I come from."

Sam blew into the campfire, giving it a slight rise in height as it burned in the stone circle that had been gathered within the stone fire ring he'd lit with his liter. The fallen branches and dried leaves had been gathered from the edge of the forest by himself, Leif, and Jackson. Sam wore his green jacket for warmth as his other Pokemon sat around the fire at varying lengths.

"This meat isn't bad," Jackson said. "Though I've never eaten anything cooked."

"I ate cooked meat all the time back when I lived with Professor Oak," Cera said as she took a bite of a grilled Wurmple.

Sam held a sharpened stick over the fire that held the speared corpses of varying Bug Pokemon. The sticks' ends had been sharpened by Leif's claws hidden in his digits when Jackson couldn't cut them. Seeing as how it was their one of their only sources of food at this point, they had ventured into the forest a little ways and brought back as many killed bodies of Caterpie and Wurmple as they could to roast over the fire. They'd already cooked a few of them as everyone had taken a bite of the Bug-type meat, except Judeau, who insisted it wasn't even possible for him to digest meat. Leif and Jackson insisted that, while they did not prefer meat, they could still eat it.

Sam had to admit, it was nice having them all sit together at night like this as they huddled near the fire, even if he was looking over his shoulder, expecting more Bug-types to jump out at a moment's notice. He was also extremely sensitive to noise right now, taking into account every rustle he heard in the forest. He decided to calm his nerves with a bite.

Sam lowered the stick from where he held it to position it horizontally in front of him, touching the fried corpses to make sure they weren't too hot. He pulled a Caterpie from the stick. He took a small bite out of it, seeing how it tasted. The meat was nothing like he'd ever had before, that was for sure. It was nothing like beef and honestly had a very soft texture to it, oozing in some parts with runny liquid he supposed was the Bug-type's blood. Sam swallowed it in a big gulp digging into the rest.

 _Kind of sour for meat._ Sam thought. _But not bad. I should dry this meat after we're done with it. My mother taught me how, but she had a stove, so I'll just have to improvise._

{Judeau's POV}

Despite the calming atmosphere of the campfire at night, the Mareep just couldn't seem to be comfortable. His mind kept wondering back to the sight of him burning those two cocoon Pokemon, making them go pop in the process. They were weak, having no defense against his attacks. It was so easy…too easy…

"Cera," Judeau said as he turned to her beside him.

"Hmm?" she asked, in between bites of Bug meat.

"Did you know you would be killing Pokemon in battle before you joined with Sam?" he asked.

She nodded before finishing what was left in her mouth.

"Professor Oak, the human I used to live with before I met Sam, told me a lot about the human world as well as the Pokemon world," she replied. "He'd said I'd need it if I ever planned to leave."

"How did you deal with the thought of dying in a fight?" Judeau asked.

Cera sighed.

"I have my reasons for risking to come here," Cera said. "I just had to accept it. I suppose you're afraid of dying in battle, huh?"

"Well if we're forced to fight to the death," Judeau said. "Then it will only be a matter of time before we kick the bucket. Who knows which of us will die first? I remember how easy it was killing those cocoons…what if we run into an opponent who is strong enough to do _us_ that way?"

"So that's what you're fearful of," Jackson said as she sat beside him. "You're fearful of when a trainer comes along that we won't have a chance against."

"Yeah," Judeau replied. "Just today we almost lost you to poisoning. Hell, of it hadn't have been for Sam, I would have died to Alex's Fire-type. The way I see it, it's just a matter of time until we die."

"Well, you have to admit Judeau," Jackson said. "You didn't really have much better chances out in the meadows. You were forced to start stealing food from humans. You're chances weren't very good as they were. I probably was going to move out of that place eventually as it was. Most of the other Mankey were leaving in droves anyway."

The Mareep sighed. He knew exactly was she meant. The truth was this _was_ probably the best chance he had at surviving. He had no reason to complain really, he could have been killed in the wild just as easily by a large Houndour looking for a meal. At least this way he had someone who keep him strong by training. And yet, he couldn't help but feel if his situations were reversed with those cocoons, he'd be in trouble. This was his only option at this point.

 _I guess I should just get over it._ Judeau thought to himself. _If I die, I die, and at least it's not alone in some random ass grass patch. At least it'll be protecting someone, fighting for a better future for us._

"Don't worry Judeau," Cera said. "You saw how much Sam cares for us. He's going to be watching out for us, you'll see."

 _I can tell she was raised by humans._ He thought. _She's far too trusting of them._

"Well how long does Sam plan to be on the road battling like this?" he asked. "The longer we're at it the more likely you and I are to get killed."

"I'd imagine for quite a while," Cera replied. "Sam's going to need to win enough money, those bills trainers handed him after battle humans exchange for goods, to earn enough to buy a home. And yes, that will take a while."

Judeau groaned and turned to Leif who was standing a fair distance from the campfire as he ate into a roasted Caterpie on a stick.

"Hey, green guy, what was your life like before?" Judeau asked.

Leif turned to him with a confused expression.

"I don't speak your language," the Treecko replied in human speech.

The Mareep sighed. Pokemon that tend to grow up in the same area generally tend to have the same language and dialects. Judeau knew two Pokemon languages, one from his original home before he crossed over into Kanto, and the one he learned while trying to stay alive in the wild. Most of the latter was taught to him by Jackson and Miki, a Rattatta he befriended before she became a meal for a Pidgeotto. Wherever he came from, it certainly wasn't near here.

"I was just going to ask what your life was like before you met us." Judeau asked in human that he'd suddenly known how to speak when he was put caught inside the Pokeball. "You certainly didn't tell us much about yourself when we met you. A girl found your Pokeball buried halfway in the dirt."

"I know," Leif said. "I saw."

He didn't look very interested in answering Judeau's question. Leif's eyes darted away to the left to avoid the Mareep's.

"Well, Treecko live alone usually, in the forest," he answered. "I wasn't very close to my kind since I was among the weakest of them."

"Oh," the Mareep replied.

He turned back to his meal, obviously wishing not to speak anymore to Judeau.

 _Sheesh._ Judeau thought. _And I thought he was just shy at first. I wonder when that guy will come around._

"Well, guys," Sam said.

The four of them turned to their trainer.

"I'm going to try my hand at drying some of this meat before going to sleep," he said. "I think someone will need to stand guard for the night."

"I wouldn't mind observing from the nearby trees," Leif volunteered. "After that oran fruit my injuries were completely gone, so I'm ready to fight if I run into anymore Bugs."

"I'll help take watch if you need it," Jackson said.

"No," Leif said as he shook his head once. "I can do it by myself."

"I wouldn't mind patrolling the area from the ground level," Cera said.

"Good enough," Sam replied. "Wake us if you find anything."

Judeau saw Leif dash away into the forest and Cera walk near the edge of the trees, the campfire casting shadows that danced in front of both of them. Judeau laid down in the grass, curling his tail near him as he did so.


	7. Chapter 7

"Cera use Confusion!" Sam ordered.

The Smoochum lifted her arm as she focused on the Weedle in front of her. Its body seemed to seizure from the inside as its skin and head jerked uncontrollably before being sent flying by telekinesis. Cera sighed as she gasped for air.

"Your Confusion's already gotten better," Sam said encouragingly. "I can tell it's already stronger."

Cera nodded weakly before Jackson walked toward Sam. She had been fighting with a Pidgeotto and the damage showed by windswept look of her fur and the bruises on her chest. Jackson looked like she was just about ready to collapse.

This had been the second wave of Pokemon attacking them in the forest that day. The first one happened as soon as the five of them stepped out of the clearing into the woods. He didn't know how long they'd fought but Sam guessed it had taken several hours because after fighting that first wave off, it was already noon. They had continued trudging through the forest, having a fragile peace from the attacks to which they quenched their thirst with water, until they'd tried outrunning a combined force of Grass and Bug-types.

They were traveling along what appeared to be ruins of an unfinished road where a clear path had been made and there were signs of gravel to the sides. There was disjointed areas with several new paths made where trees had been clear cut and pieces of gravel still intact. However, following these pieces of roads alone was useless as part of the gravel roads would stop and break off where they would find a new section of an unfinished gravel path that was still going in the same general direction. It was quite weird finding it in the middle of the thick of the Viridian woods where these ruins were often covered over with underbrush and tree roots.

Needless to say, they had very little energy left. Sam's clothes had been torn in several places as well as caked in dirt, leaves, and dew. His Pokemon showed even worse signs of damage.

Judeau walked up to Sam's right side, sighing to himself. His wool had been torn from him in several areas and he had several cuts in the exposed skin.

"Are they gone?" he asked.

"For now," Cera heaved. "Sam, call Leif. We need to find another clearing, if there is one. I'm starving"

"I'll do just that," Sam replied as he cupped his hands around his mouth and prepared to yell. "Leif! Where are you?!"

A moment later the canopy above them rustled as the Treecko dropped from above.

"Did you find a clearing while you were scouting around?" he asked.

"I did," he replied as he nodded. "There are humans in a clearing not far from here at all. If we hurry, we can get there before anymore Pokemon attack."

Sam nodded, gestured for his Pokemon to follow as Leif began to walk them towards their destination.

He didn't know how long it was but time certainly had passed before the Bugs stopped coming in droves. The five of them were heading towards in a distinctive location by Leif. Sam was too tired to notice before it happened but eventually they fell out—and yes she did mean that as Sam _fell_ out of the forest's vegetation—and he nearly fell down as he stepped into the clearing.

He looked around, noticing this clearing to be much larger than the last one he visited, observing all the trainers dressed in the same dark green uniforms the others had been wearing. They were doing everything from chatting to Pokemon battling to cooking meals over campfires in fire circles. All had their Pokemon out, mostly Bug-types with the occasional Grass or Flying Pokemon. Sam and his four Pokemon limped out into the open, drawing the gaze of some of the patrolling trainers.

"We need to seek medical attention," Cera said pained. "If we can just find anyone who has a…a potion for us…"

Sam swallowed and attempted to call for help from one of the trainers near him.

"Hey, excuse me…" Sam said to a random passer-by. "Help…"

" _Very_ noticeable," Judeau said. " _Quite_ the plea for help you got going on there."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Sam asked as he glared down at his Mareep.

"Grow some backbone and don't act they're gonna bite you," Judeau replied. "If you would be so kind, _dear master._ "

Sam shot an expression of disgruntled anger at him in response with his lip pulled to the side. He led his party to an encampment of patrolling trainers grouped around a fire they used to roast what appeared to be a Pidgey. They seemed to be in no particular age range as one looked like a fifteen year old girl and a man Sam could tell was more than thirty. They were surrounded by their Pokemon which seemed to be made of only Bug-type Pokemon. He cleared his throat as he prepared to speak.

"Um, excuse me," Sam said. "My Pokemon and I have just been, um…taken quite the beating to the Pokemon around here and…we need a bit medical attention. Specifically a potion spraying."

Some glanced back and forth to one another before a woman apparently in her mid-twenties gave him an affirmative look.

"Sure kid," she replied. "But in exchange we'd like, eh…you know, a good battle."

"A battle?" Cera sighed.

"Never letting up, is it?" Jackson complained. "Can't we just trade them something we got for some medicine?"

"Good point," Sam replied before turning to the trainers. "I'll even trade you some of our food."

"Don't need any of that shit," a brunette woman said. "All we wants a bit of cash."

Sam groaned while gritting his teeth. As much as he hated to admit it, he was more inclined to giving food to away than the dollars he'd one. After all, that was _his_ house he'd be buying with it. Besides, that money had been rightfully earned through blood, either his Pokemon's or another's.

"Give you all the medicine you need," a boy beside her said. "So long as you're willing to bet money in a battle."

"League rules," the fifteen-year-old girl said. "They fight until one croaks."

Sam gritted his teeth harder. Just as he feared, these trainers obviously read his obvious inexperience with battles and wanted to take advantage of it in gangs. He glared back at them. If he was going to do this, he was going to have to swallow his fear.

"Fine," Sam said. "But your money's not safe either. You'll cough it up if you lose."

"That's how it always is."

{}

"Dammit," the boy said as his Butterfree fell to the ground, its wings singed blackish-brown, and right beside the Kakuna that laid burnt on the ground beside it.

Sam saw Judeau beam a prideful smile at the sight, obviously impressed at himself. This had been their third victory. They had moved to a small space in between two fire rings where patrolling trainers lined up behind the boy that stood across from Sam waited to battle. So far, it seemed the best idea was that Judeau fight since he, along with Leif, was the least damaged as well as his ranged Electric attacks seemed best fit to handle their opponents. The losing trainer frowned down at his Weedle before walking over to give Sam his prize money.

The next trainer, a brunette of about twenty-one surrounded with Bug Pokemon at her side, marched up to him.

"Alright, it's my go," she said sternly as she gestured for her Venonat to march toward Judeau. "Use Poison Powder!"

The round Bug-type shook its fur as it charged toward the Mareep. Judeau ran to the side to instinctively avoid the fine, purple-colored powder.

"Thundershock!" Sam ordered.

He loosed an arc of electricity at his foe that zapped the Bug and Poison-type on contact. Its purple fur was singed as it seemed to quiver in pain.

"Tackle," Sam said and Judeau rammed into Venonat, putting it out of its misery.

"Damn," its trainer said. "Well, Nincada, get out there."

The much longer Bug-type crawled out from beside its trainer to their makeshift battlefield. It had an earthen colored coat as well as large claws at its disposal with small green winglets on its back. Sam's opponent called out the first attack.

"Scratch!"

The Nincada crawled towards his Mareep at an alarmingly fast pace as Judeau let out a Thundershock before Sam even ordered one. This time, the surge of electric energy seemed to do nothing to damage the advancing Nincada as it hit. Sam noticed that the electric energy seemed to be directly absorbed into the Pokemon's body. Judeau jumped out of the way of the Bug-type's claw as it attempted to slash at him.

"What?" Sam asked himself. "I don't understand, did that—"

"Nincada must be a Ground-type," Cera said. "They're immune to Electric attacks due to the fact the earthen material within their body is ideal for neutralizing electricity."

Sam groaned at himself before yelling at Judeau to return to his side. Sam looked at his Pokemon, trying to decide who should go before Leif stepped forward. Within his thin pupils Sam saw a stern determination to take up the battle. The trainer nodded and the Treecko stepped into the battlefield.

{Leif's POV}

Leif walked straight up at his foe, his arms crossed with his tail straightened behind him. Leif glared down his foe, staring right into Nincada's eyes before looking over the Bug-types body as he tried to find an opening. There was something he could see in the Pokemon's eyes that looked almost mechanical, like he was less of a living being and more of an orderly soldier.

 _These Pokemon under the master of these trainers._ Leif thought. _They seem less like living beings and more like soldiers…like they're desensitized to their comrades' and foes' deaths alike. It…it isn't natural._

Before he could feel sorry for the creature he was about to be forced to kill, Leif remembered some advice a friend once gave him about battle.

 _"The key to fighting successfully is strategy," she had said. "A spot in a foe's defenses are usually the easiest ways to form methods to defeating them."_

 _If I had not been told I would be standing here, too afraid to move._ Leif thought to himself. _I would give anything to go back and tell you that…tell you made the difference when it came to my life. You and Vage were the two that allowed me to become so strong I may have been one of the strongest Treecko there. My only regret is I didn't spend more time with you and Vage. If only._

Leif watched the Nincada, looking into its eyes and seeing a subtle fear he'd often had himself while living in the forest. Leif contemplated this, comparing it to his previous thoughts.

 _Or maybe I can preserve your memory right here, right now. Something I know you'd want me to do if you were standing right next to me. Should I go for it? Of course I should, Vage would want me to._

Leif was flexing the digits of his hands, readying his attack, before the opponent trainer gave the command.

"Use Scratch!"

The Nincada jumped at Leif just as he had done with Judeau, only this time as soon as the Nincada even lifted his claw, Leif was already standing at his side.

"Stay down," Leif said quietly to the Bug.

"Wow, did you see that?!" Sam yelled.

"No I didn't!" Jackson cried. "It was too fast to follow!"

"It was a blur!" Judeau said.

Leif struck the Nincada just above the right joint near that connected its leg. From his palm, tendrils sprouted that reached in to the Bug's body. As these tendrils grew from his palm, Leif allowed them to spread and sense the parts of the Nincada's body where it held the most nutrients, slowly sucking in the satisfying substances from its body fluids. This all happened in the space of time of about a second before Leif jumped back as he saw the Bug-type collapse beneath itself, part of its exoskeleton withered like a prune.

"No, Nincada!" the woman cried.

Leif looked on at the body, smiling at it. He could still see the Nincada's eyes darting back to him, almost as if he was waiting to be finished off. It seemed the Nincada understood and seemed to play dead.

 _Knowing Nincada, if it could find some way of absorbing nutrients from the soil without anyone noticing, it could probably get its strength back._ He thought. _Of course, it would have to crawl back into the forest, avoiding be recaptured while it's at it. Vage, wherever you are, somehow you'll know that I spared him, knowing it is what you would want me to do._

"Shit! That was my best Pokemon," the woman said before looking down at her Surskit. The dainty-legged Pokemon made its way to the battlefield, its trusting and innocent eyes looking fearful. "Quick Attack!"

The Surskit practically flew at Leif with how fast it was charging at him, with the Treecko dashing as fast as he could away. The Surskit changed direction (Leif suddenly remembered they were omnidirectional) and charged at him to which Leif leapt out of the way. The Treecko and Surskit became blurs of blue and green as they sailed across the grass of the clearing. Finally, Leif appeared in front of the Water-type and rammed into it. The Surskit fell back before picking itself up on its slender legs.

"Use Bubble!"

From the tip of the yellow appendage on its head it sucked in air before spraying large bubbles towards Leif from an opening at the tip. Leif charged through the bubbles, popping them as small shocks of kinetic force did relatively light damage to him, as he straightened his tail before smacking the Surskit across its small body. It was flung aside with the movement of his tail.

Leif looked down at the defeated foe. Too his surprise, the Surskit did not seem to move at all. Leif ever so slightly nudged it with his foot to which there was no movement. He really had killed it. Leif looked down at the body, trying not to lose himself in emotion. He tried to avert his thoughts to something else but couldn't seem to.

 _Hmm._ He laughed at himself. _Yet another thing you have failed at._

"Well," the woman groaned. "I'm not gonna waste anymore of my Pokemon. Damn, I was really looking forward to some new clothes too."

She walked over to Sam and handed him the prize money. Leif, after watching the transaction, could not take his eyes off the body of the Surskit, its eyes still open. Its innocent, heartfelt eyes that looked so expressive. He wondered what the Pokemon would have to say to him if he really had saved its life. Would it have thanked Leif? Would it have told Leif what it would do with its new freedom? Was it really as innocent as it looked? The questions were practically endless.

"I'm next!" a young boy said.

Leif groaned as he prepared for the next battle.

{Sam's POV}

The next battle wasn't much to watch. Leif insisted on fighting so Sam let him take on the next trainer, to which Sam watched him easily defeat the trainer's Oddish and Caterpie by out speeding them with his agility and overpowering them with the strikes with his tail. However, when Sam looked closely at the beaten Pokemon he could tell they were still able to move as light twitching and breathing was still apparent.

Needless to say, the money in his palm felt very satisfactory as a reward with Leif came back towards Sam after the fight with barely a scratch on him from the battle as he groaned to witness the last trainer step forward in an effort to beat him. From the boy's excited expression, he could tell he was just aching for a fight.

"Alright," the red-headed twelve-year-old said as he held a Pokeball to his face with a look of determination on his face. "I think I can give you quite the match."

"We'll see about that."

The boy grimaced as he flung the Pokeball, it opening up to bring forth in a flash of light a Pokemon Sam blinked at in surprise. He recognized it as a Paras, a small Pokemon with a crustaceous body and parasitic mushrooms growing on its back. When Professor Oak talked about this Pokemon, Sam always wondered what a weird and torturous life it would be like to live having a leeching fungus use you to get its nutrients at the cost of the poor Pokemon. Sam sighed as he took comfort in the thought that killing it may not be such a change from its normal life.

"Judeau, go," he ordered.

"Got it," the Mareep said with vigor.

"But, Sam," Cera said. "I don't know—"

"Don't worry," Judeau replied. "I'll take it out in a flash, before you know it."

Cera sighed.

"If you think you can," she said, sighing.

He ran up towards the Pokemon as electricity sparked across the surface of his wool.

"Use Thundershock!" Sam shouted.

"Scratch at it Shrooms!" the opposing trainer ordered.

The Bug-type charged at Judeau at slow but steady speed with its left claw outstretched. Judeau's Thundershock struck the top of its mushroom, flowing down through the rest of his body. However, unlike all the other Bugs that looked half-dead from just one, this time kept going until it finally managed to reach and claw him in the face then slashed at his leg with the other claw. The Mareep cried out in pain.

"Judeau!" Jackson cried.

"Damn it!" Sam yelled in frustration. "Try another Thundershock."

Judeau let out another Electric attack from his body. The Paras seemed somewhat more damaged this time but it still seemed unfazed.

"What?!" Sam yelled. "This can't be right! It's doing nothing!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" Cera said. "That mushroom on Paras's back is infused with its body and absorbs nutrients in it! This makes the fungi have special botanical properties making it a Grass-type!"

"And…?" Sam prodded her.

"Grass-types are able to draw in Electric-type moves and redirect them back into the earth, reducing their damage," Cera answered.

"Then just say he's at a type disadvantage!" Sam replied. "No need for the rest of that shit!"

"Stun Spore!" the boy cried.

Sam's heart sunk as he saw green flakes burst from the pores of the red mushroom on the Paras's back. The stuff was propelled at Judeau, causing him to collapse on the spot as he coughed.

"Judeau!" Sam cried.

He attempted to race at his Mareep before he felt a tugging at his pant leg. He looked down to see Leif's three fingers gripping his pants.

"Don't go near him!" Cera said. "If you get in that stuff you'll be paralyzed too! And people have a lot harder time with that stuff than Pokemon do!"

Sam gritted his teeth, suppressing the desire to kick her and Leif in anger as he watched the Paras slash at Judeau's cheeks and wool with its pincers. The green flakes still hung in the air, landed in his wool as he lay helpless.

"Judeau, come back!" Sam yelled.

He saw the Mareep struggle against the Paras's Scratch attack as he waddled back over toward him. Sam hastily retrieved the Electric-type's Pokeball from where it adhered to his waist. He opened it and Judeau returned in a flash of light.

"Hey!" The boy said. "I was just about to finish that fight! That's no fair!"

Sam glared at the boy. He looked down at Cera and she immediately walked toward the Paras. Without a single word she held out her arms and summoned a gust of fine ice at her opponent. The Paras immediately froze in place as the wind of ice crystals formed a layer of thin ice on him. His fungi turned brown before it looked like an ice sculpture.

"No fair!" the boy cried. "I was gonna win for sure! I knew I would!"

"A loss is a loss," Sam said. "Now hand over your money unless you have another Pokemon you wish to choose to fight."

"Nuh-uh," he replied. "My other two wouldn't stand a chance against yours. Here, take it!"

He walked over to Sam and practically slammed the wad of cash into his hand. Sam stuffed it back into the pocket in his bag. He looked back at the trainers who he had beaten, most of them eating the roasted Pidgey from the fire. He gave them a demanding look to which many took a break and started rifling through their bags that they had set aside.

{}

"Sorry we couldn't heal your Electric Pokemon," the brunette woman said. "We had plenty of potions to spare but paralyze heals…I think we used them up or something."

Sam sighed as he looked down at Judeau's Pokeball. He minimized it and placed the adhesive middle back onto his waist. Leif, Jackson, and Cera had all been healed back just fine from their injuries. Sam groaned as he looked back up at the woman.

"What's the way back to Pewter again?" he asked almost begrudgingly.

She pointed to the left.

"That general direction you'll see a gate, not even half a mile away," she said. "Can't miss it."

"Thanks," Sam replied tersely before heading off with his Pokemon.

He and his Pokemon left the clearing, tromping through the forest floor, kicking brush out of the way as they had before. Little worm Pokemon jumped at him and cocoons waddled toward him but they were easily bested with a quick telekinetic throw and slap from a heavy tail. Sam barely noticed the Bug Pokemon attacking from the underbrush.

So long as none were attacking from above, Sam couldn't honestly give less of a fuck. He was emotionally and physically exhausted, so much he barely wanted to pull out his tin of meat and start smacking down some. In fact—

"Sam, I thought you were going to save that for down the road," Cera said.

He gave her a weak glare as he continued grabbing fistfuls of meat and stuffing them into his face.

"Oh just leave me alone," Sam replied back. "I'm starving. I couldn't dry that Bug meat and if I couldn't do that, then there's no way saving any of this food could have helped in the long run. We'll have to get more food when we reach Pewter City."

"I hope so," Cera replied. "Despite eating all that Bug meat we cooked, I'm still hungry."

"Hey, guys," Jackson said as she scratched out a Caterpie. "I think I found Michael."

She pointed up above them and Sam followed her gesture. They stopped walking to see that, suspended from a tree with thick silk thread, hung a human length and vaguely man-shaped bundle of silk that dangled above a tree. At the top it even had the vague brim shape of the hat the patrolling trainers would wear. The silk, unlike the fresh white stuff Sam had seen sprayed by worm Pokemon, had been yellowed by exposure to air and carried what he presumed to be, just based on looks alone, a once-living human. The numerous blood stains that continued to drip thick, red droplets did not convince him otherwise.

"Oh—oh my Arceus," Cera mumbled.

Sam kept staring up at the silk-wrapped corpse, watching as the red blood dropped to the ground as it painted the leaves below in splatters. He could feel his heartbeat faster the longer he looked at it. He wondered what the person's life was like. He wondered what the boy's parents were like, if they stilled lived in the same house, if he had any brothers or sisters, if he was the youngest or not. What were his final moments like? Was he killed before being wrapped in the String Shot or was he embalmed alive, painfully aware of the suffocation he was experiencing as the worm Pokemon surrounded—

 _Nope._ Sam thought. _Nope, nope, nope._

He continued stuffing his mouth full of meat, trying to keep himself from making any sound as he watched the mass of silk and flesh dangle in the wind, trying not to imagine Bug-type Pokemon crawling into the wadded sheath of silk and munching on his corpse—yep, he finished his meat in the tin before he could lose the appetite to stop eating. It's good knowing he still had the willpower to do that, while he still had the chance. Now all Sam had to worry about was losing what he had just eaten, all over the ground.

"Oh—oh, oh," Jackson said. "That's—that's awful. Truly, truly—eeeehhhlllll."

"There's actually a lot like that," Leif said. "While I was scouting above in the treetops I saw quite a few corpses of these humans, lying around with their Pokemon either dead or joining in munching the corpse of their former trainer with them. Needless to say, it was not pretty."

"Do you think we should give him a proper burial?" Jackson asked.

"I don't think so," Sam said. "We have to keep moving. These Bugs aren't going to continue giving us this break like they have been these last few moments."

They returned to moving towards where that trainer had told them where the gate was, their eyes still lingering back to the corpse wrapped in silk. Jackson and Leif stayed by Sam's side this time as the Bugs were not rustling as much as he thought they would be from the canopy above. However, Sam could still make out small heads of the worms poking out from the trees above and around them, watching them intently, almost as if studying their next move.

Amazingly, a gravel road, such as one akin to the one they tried following awhile back, was actually complete this time and not disjointed. They followed it and the gravel path led them to the gate in the middle of a fence-line. It was an almost identical scene from where they had come in. Sam breathed a sigh of relief as he ran up to knock as heavy as he could on the thick door. A moment later, it opened for him. Sam gave one look back at the forest behind him, observing the dozens of little heads of Bug Pokemon watch him as he stepped into the gate.

Sam and his Pokemon stepped into the carpeted square of a room. He turned to see that a girl with blonde hair of about eighteen in the dark green cloak uniform was manning the wheel that had opened the door. The only other person beside her was a girl of about fourteen, sitting on a couch that line the wall, who was tending to her injured Pokemon that Sam didn't recognize.

It was a small red Pokemon with a round body and head and beak with large claws. It was injured with both its legs bleeding and small puncture wound in its chest. She tied the bandages around where it was injured as she had a tearful expression on her face. The blond woman came up to Sam and greeted him with an exhausted expression.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "Are you in need of medical attention?"

Sam shook his head.

"We're fine," he replied. "We just need to get to Pewter City…that is, unless you have paralyze heal."

"No I don't," the woman said as she sighed. "How strong are your Pokemon?"

"They're tough enough to allow me to survive through that forest," Sam replied. "So pretty damn tough."

"The reason I ask is Routes Two and three up ahead are still a dangerous place," she replied. "You'll need protection as the reason you were able to make it out alive at _all_ is because the patrollers there. We don't have many to spare since almost a third of our regiment has been called to Route Three since the gym leader in Pewter City has so little…"

The woman struggled to make out her next words, as if she wanted to swear but couldn't bring herself to.

"Um, tactical experience, if I should say so," she ended her comment politely. "Sorry…but whenever travelers get killed it's always on our heads. You can make your way if you—"

She was interrupted by a buzzing beneath her cloak. She lifted her cloak to take her walkie-talkie from her belt loop and lifted it to her ear. After some indiscernible noise she cranked open the wheel she used to let Sam in. After the door opened, she instructed Sam to let close it by turning it until it was shut. She explained another patroller would come in within half an hour and stand guard. Sam watched her leave before he went to the other wheel protruding from the wall and turned. He gestured to the girl with the red bird-like Pokemon who agreed to close it once he left.

As soon as his Pokemon and he had stepped out he realized something quite inconvenient for them.

"It's getting dark," Jackson said quite frankly.

"Yeah," Cera replied. "I could hardly tell with such a thick canopy in Viridian Forest. Plus, time flies when you're fleeing for your life."

Sam looked ahead of him, seeing half the sun had disappeared below the horizon. The sunset outlining the trees to his sides and the gravel road that extended before them. By the looks of it, it was late afternoon, possibly six o'clock or so.

"From the map I looked at, Pewter City should be just down this road," Sam said like he was pronouncing a death sentence. "Our first gym battle."

He felt he didn't need to elaborate further. He could tell the graveness of the statement hushed the three of them into a moment of contemplation of mutual understanding: they could die there more than ever. Sam had never seen many gym battles, but from what he had seen on the few glimpses of Oak's television screen, they could often be intense and brutal with neither Pokemon showing mercy until one was too wounded to go on. He'd heard from his classmates that saw these more often they would often turn into bloodbaths.

His mind began to race with all the information Oak had given him in class. First, he'd have to identify what Pokemon the gym leader would use. Usually, they had a specific type they trained and, if he remembered correctly, the Pewter Gym used Rock and Ground-types, just like…Sam shook his head, blocking the memory out. If that was the case he'd have three of any of his four Pokemon to choose from, barring Judeau as Electricity was weak to Ground.

Sam gripped his bag tighter, the thought making him quiver in fear and potential disgust. And his Pokemon would be the ones being watched in those fights.

He continued walking down the gravel road, trying to resist the urge of hanging his head low. But more than anything, Sam was trying to resist the pervasive thoughts of the upcoming battle in his head. He could just imagine it, blood everywhere as it painted the field a sickening rid with pieces of torn flesh strewn about…

He shook himself away from the thought.

 _Remember._ Sam told himself. _If no one else is freaking out over this—not even your Pokemon—then you shouldn't either. What happens, happens—and you can't do anything to stop that. So quit moping and figure out some way to keep them alive._

Sam looked back up at the road, hearing the gravel crunch beneath his feet, an almost pleasing sound in how simplistic it was. It felt so solid, down-to-earth, stable, something he needed to be right now when his Pokemon needed him the most. He _had_ to be.

 _I'm the one who brought them along for this journey._ He thought. _And I'm going to be the one to see them through it._


	8. Chapter 9

{Cera's POV}

"Nice shot," Sam said to her.

They both looked over the Pidgey lying in the dirt as cawed viciously, but unable to move as part of its wing was frosted over from one of her Powder Snows. Others lay there with beside it, quite a few iced over, some singed by electricity.

"Thanks for the compliment," Judeau said bitterly. "Could I go back into my ball now? This spore shit has may it pretty uncomfortable to even stand."

 _Why are you such a jerk?_ Cera asked herself. _There's no reason to be, no one's asking you anything unnecessary._

Sam obliged the Mareep by returning him to his ball. The combined flocks of Pidgey and Hoothoot had attacked them while they had been walking along the route. As Cera had been the only one out who wasn't in great danger by them since Jackson and Leif were weak due to type disadvantage so he brought out a crabby and reluctant Judeau. She and Judeau had managed to fight off most of the Flying-types with ranged attacks and forced to withdraw into their grass to regroup.

The four of them took a collective sigh as they all turned around to keep walking down the dirt path in front of them. Cera walked next to Sam's right side while Jackson and Leif scouting up ahead. Cera was watching the horizon beyond them turn the sky a pleasant orange color with heavy shadows cast in front of them when her train of thought was interrupted by foreign thoughts.

Dread began to creep into her mind. Cera understood she had been suppressing it for a while now but she hadn't really noticed it until now. The truth was if she thought about it more she could make out scenery of blood with it…That wasn't something she usually thought about. It was almost as if these weren't her thoughts but they were a mix of a distant memory and someone telling her about it.

 _Where is this coming from?_ She asked herself.

Cera followed the source of the emotions, using her sixth sense, until she came upon the source. Turns out, it wasn't really her.

"Sam?" she asked.

"Umm…yeah?" he replied as he turned and looked down.

She awkwardly rubbed the end of her arms against each other, nervously looking down at the ground.

"Look, I've been developing my Psychic-type moves a lot lately with all this battling," she started. "And sometimes I get this odd feelings like I know what people around me are feeling. I can tell you're…you're dreading what's about to happen. You are consumed by the fear of what will happen in this gym battle."

That emotion that Cera had been feeling of dread slowly turned to one of rushed contemplation, a mad gambit in response. Yes, she was correct, Sam really was afraid.

He looked down, almost sheepishly at the ground. Sam kind of frowned. She suddenly felt guilty for telling him now, as possibly he interrupted it she chose to read his mind.

"Yeah," he said. "I—I'm sorry for that. I—I'll try to-"

"It'll be alright Sam," Cera replied. "I understand, and I think the others would to. I know you're scared but just…just try to keep it together, okay? We're going to try our best."

Sam chuckled with a faint smile on his face.

"And I thought I was the trainer," he mumbled at her.

Before Cera could remark she didn't mean to overstep her boundaries, she looked out of the corner of her eye to see Leif and Jackson had come back running back towards them.

"Find anything, guys?" Sam asked.

"There was a large wall in the way, Sam," Jackson said. "It was made completely of stone."

"It wouldn't happen to be Pewter City would it?" Leif asked.

Sam looked elated.

"That's it alright," Sam replied. "The place is a large citadel from what I've been told. Those walls are for protection against wilds, something most cities have to varying degrees. Take me there."

Sam and Cera followed the two of them down the dirt path until she saw the great obstacle. Even from far away she had to muster willpower within herself to continue looking at it without trembling, it was so big. When they came within touching distance of it, Cera found it was made entirely of rugged stone masonry. In front of them was a large gate connected to the rest of the barrier.

For some reason she felt as though she could feel the work that had to have been put into it to construct such a monster of architecture. The great wall surrounded a good area that must have stretched a mile or so around in a rugged circle. It must have been thirty feet tall or higher from what he could see. Just as was looking up the structure as far as she could, a rope ladder fell from the top that nearly reached to the ground.

"It seems that they've invited us," Leif remarked.

"Better not ignore their invitation," Sam said. "Stay close beside me as you climb up. We don't want those on top to think you're wilds and attack you."

Cera watched as Sam grabbed a wooden rung of the ladder and placed his foot on another. She saw Jackson scale the ladder in the blink of an eye and Leif shoot up the wall. Cera gave Sam an awkward glance.

"Um, Sam I don't think I can I can climb that," she said. "I'm kind of…small."

"Oh," he replied as he plucked her Pokeball from his belt and returned her.

{Sam's POV}

Sam wasn't the biggest fan of heights and he suddenly remembered that as he was halfway up the forty-foot wall. He clung to the rungs of the ladder for dear life, taking long pauses between each step. He looked up to Jackson was scaling the rope ladder much faster than he could. Sam silently cursed himself for being such a wimp and kept climbing, forcing himself not to look down at the ground. Before he knew it, he had made his way to where he was almost eye-level with the flat top of the structure. A hand immediately shot down to which Sam grabbed onto.

He was half-hauled, half-climbed onto a spacious walkway where men in gray—Sam wanted to use the word uniform to describe what they were wearing but many of their clothes were so tattered and ragged you couldn't describe them as such—shirts and matching pants walked alongside the edge of the walkway. A few had Pokemon to their sides—mostly of the Rock-type and Ground-type like Geodude or Sandshrew, confirming Sam of the typing of their city's gym—and those that didn't all had Pokeballs at their waist. Sam caught a quick glimpse to see Jackson and Leif had made it to the top far before he did before turning to the man who had helped him up.

Sam stood face-to-face with the man was wearing a black and orange vest with tan skin and short black hair. He looked only about nineteen, younger than most of the men Sam saw walking the top of the wall.

"Hi," he said almost like it was almost a rehearsed line. "My name is Brock, I usually greet the newcomers of my city. What brings you here, sir? What's your name?"

"Um…" Sam mumbled as Jackson and Leif strode beside him.

 _You need to get out of that habit._ Sam thought. _Saying "um" before everything sounds stupid._

"My name is Sam and I'm really in need of a Pokemon Center," he replied. "My Pokemon and I just made it through Viridian Forest."

"Our friend was crippled by a Paras on our way here," Jackson said to him.

"Hmm, I see," he said. "Not many can make it on their own through those woods. I'll show you the way to the Center, it's not far from here and I need to pick up something near the market as it is."

Brock stopped a man who was walking by, telling him to make sure everyone knew he would be gone for a moment, before gesturing for Sam to follow him. He, Jackson and Leif followed the young man down the walkway as he pushed past many of the people in his way, made somewhat harder by the fact some had Pokemon walking beside them before they stepped onto the flight of stairs the crossed diagonally at the back of the wall to the ground. That reminded Sam…

He plucked Cera's Pokeball from his waist and opened it before she appeared in a flash of light.

"Thanks," Cera replied before disappearing.

Brock stopped walking down the stairs for a moment and turned to Sam.

"I'll warn you it's not wise to let out any more of your Pokemon within the limits of the city boundaries," he said. "The townspeople are very…on edge about seeing Pokemon walking freely."

While Sam didn't know how his Pokemon hearing that would take it, he couldn't really blame them. Ever since wild Pokemon started attacking any humans within their immediate vicinity, people living in rural areas had to flee their homes and seek places on with greatest of protection, which were usually urbanized cities and towns. Even then wilds were always trying to find some way to get in and swarm the cities. Since the cities' people couldn't leave without being heavily guarded it would make sense to hate their source entrapment and the reason they lost their former livelihood.

"I understand," Sam replied.

"Good," Brock said as he continued leading Sam down the stairs. He and his Pokemon awkwardly walked down as it was somewhat difficult as steep as they could get. When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs for the soles of his shoes to meet a paved street beneath them. He saw Leif, a natural arboreal Pokemon, look slightly apprehensive at this change. However, as Brock led the way to the Pokemon Center through the crowded streets, Sam was taken aback by something else.

When he thought of the mighty city of Pewter he usually expected a stronghold of prosperity. Instead most of the houses to the sides of the street he was walking looked like hastily built shacks made of cheap stone and wood slapped together. The spacing between each houses was nonexistent in most of what Sam could see. Any alleyway that looked remotely spacious was immediately occupied by dozens of pedestrians flooding it. Sam felt himself becoming panicked as well as overheated with so many people closed in on him. And many of those houses had long stretches of space where they were they lay in ruin, pieces of the structures forming trenches of debris. Sam was all too familiar with what a sight like that meant…

"I take it you're looking at what remains of the homes of many of the citizens?" Brock asked, catching his line of sight. Sam nodded. "Yes…we've been targeted by the Johto military in this past year. I remember being surrounded for days by their militants with periodic strikes into the heart of the city barely a month ago. I, um…some of my friends died there."

"I—I understand," Sam replied.

"Might I ask where you're from?" Brock asked.

"Pallet Town," Sam said.

"Isn't that near Viridian?" Brock asked to which Sam nodded.

Sam felt something hang onto his pant leg and looked down to see Leif had crawled onto him, obviously sick of the crowded street. He looked around seeing Jackson and Cera struggling to remain close to him against the shuffling of human feet. Sam was just about to return them to their Pokeballs before the street opened up to an almost cul-de-sac-like area. The street, along with many others, seemed to converge to create the circular area where pedestrian traffic was much less concentrated and they flowed more loosely.

They stopped for a moment before Brock pointed out to Sam a red-roofed building to his left. It seemed very large for a Center, being maybe four times as large as the one in Viridian City.

"That's the Pokemon Center," he said. "You'll find all the medical services you need. How long are you planning to stay, because they offer room service to traveling trainers?"

"Oh," Sam replied. "I was hoping to have a gym battle with the town's leader here so it shouldn't be too long."

Brock turned to him with a grave, yet sincere expression.

"I am the gym leader of Pewter City," he said. "My gym is not far from here."

Before Sam could reply, the man turned briskly and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. He stood, staring at the street he had vanished into along with the people.

"You okay, Sam?" Cera asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "Just…does he seem a little young to be a gym leader? I mean, I don't know if there's an official age or whatever but, he couldn't be much older than I am. And he has his own gym? I saw some men I guess who work for him younger than that."

"That explains a lot," Cera replied.

"What does that mean?" Sam asked as Leif crawled up to his midsection.

The Smoochum sighed.

"I'll explain later," she said. "First let's go get Judeau fixed."

{}

Sam took Judeau's Pokeball from nurse before fishing out fifteen bucks to give back to her in return.

"What about you're other Pokemon?" the nurse asked.

"Oh, they're fine," Sam replied. "I healed them up with some potions right before leaving the forest."

The nurse shook her head at Sam.

"Healing them with that isn't the same as using the machines here," the nurse replied. "They'll still have injuries that go beneath the surface of their skin. Spray medicine doesn't heal wounds as deeply, plus this provides your Pokemon with energy."

Sam looked away from the nurse. She could just be scamming him into giving away more money, but…on the other hand…he did have a gym battle to get to here. Did he really want to take that risk?

"Hmm…" Sam groaned as he thought before turning to his Pokemon. "Guys, do any of you feel like you need some more healing?"

"I feel fine," Cera immediately replied, almost on impulse.

Leif shook his head.

"I wasn't hit very much at all," he answered.

Jackson, however, looked at Sam almost sheepishly.

"I wouldn't mind," she replied.

Sam returned Jackson to her Pokeball before handing it to the nurse. The nurse ran Jackson's Pokeball across the machine again, costing Sam another fifteen dollars to his disgruntlement.

"So long as you decide to keep up with your training, you are allowed a free room," the nurse said after giving him back Jackson's Pokeball. She pointed to the right for Sam to turn and see a wooden door. "If you decide to sleep there your room's number will be number 17."

Sam nodded and walked to where she pointed before opening the door, seeing a row of doors that ran across a long hallway. He followed the numbers posted at the top of the doorways until he reached the one with the number seventeen plaited in brass on it. He opened the door as Leif and Cera fell in behind him. It wasn't much, with a single bed, a nightstand and a bathroom. Sam let out Jackson and Judeau, the latter shaking his wool and letting out a yawn.

"Ah…thanks for that, kid," the Mareep said.

"Better get comfortable," Sam groaned and yawned. "We're going to try to take on the Pewter Gym tomorrow."

His Pokemon did as requested. Judeau bedded down in the carpet beside the bed while Leif and Jackson leaned against the nightstand. Cera climbed onto the mattress to sleep on the row of pillows at the head of the bed stand.

Sam, thoroughly tired from his day of frantic running and killing Pokemon, threw back the covers of the bed before taking off his pack, jacket, and shirt. He threw them onto the floor before burying himself beneath the covers. The strange thing was that, as tired as he felt, Sam was also incredibly restless. Maybe it was the fact that he just couldn't find himself comfortable with the bed. After a minute of tossing and turning, he eventually just gave up and stared up at the ceiling, his eyes wide open.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Cera asked.

Sam grunted in response to make out a barely discernable, "Yeah.".

"Sam, I would like to tell you, from what I can tell about Brock, he's really quite insecure," Cera said.

"And how do you figure that?" Sam asked with feigned interest.

"Just from his body language I can tell he's extremely under-confident about himself," Cera said. "Brock seems like he knows the great responsibility of what a gym leader is, but that's the very reason he doesn't have much spine. What do you think of that, Sam?"

Sam rolled over to her, trying to adjust his sleepy eyes on her small figure. He did, however, was interested enough in what she'd said to respond.

"I know what you mean," Sam replied. "When I first saw him I was shocked that he was with those soldiers and he can't be that much older than _me_. I couldn't believe he was the gym leader of this city. I guess it is quite a surprise. If I were him I know I'd be scared."

"That's just what I thought," Cera replied. "I pictured gym leaders to be either war worn vets or cold killers. As Alex would say, he's practically reeking of greenhorn."

Sam almost chuckled at her.

 _That did sound like Alex._ He thought. _Almost word-for-word._

"That may be pretty close to the truth," he said. "I mean, the Viridian Gym leader hardly shows up, it's a wonder it doesn't close down sometimes. If Gym leaders are usually gone off fighting in Johto along Mt. Silver or somewhere, wouldn't it make sense to have a substitute gym leader while they're gone?"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Cera answered. "It wouldn't be out of place to assume Brock is a temporary fill-in for the real leader of this town while they're off participating in the war effort. In fact, if I can remember correctly, I think I know who the usual leader of this place is. I can't remember his name, but Oak told me a description of him and that he's a Rock and Ground-type specialist. The description actually sounds a lot like Brock now that I think about, because he was supposed to be pretty tan and have jet black hair. Really muscular too. Have you ever heard of anything like that?"

Sam wasn't hearing Cera right then. Not after she had said "Rock and Ground-type specialist". He stared blankly at the Smoochum lying on the pillow, his vision seeming to disappear. Sam froze completely in his bedsheets as his memory was the only working at that point, like a moving picture frame. Something about it reminded him of an unearthed pencil sketch he'd found in the rubble after that day, with each removal of dirt and ash revealing a long lost treasure he had never hoped to find. He could in fact see the man standing in front of him. Only, he wasn't actually in front of him, he was on a very high place in the air, towering over them all as he overlooked the destruction…

Sam mentally snapped himself out of it. It was like the memory just ended at his command, like a child told to stop crying.

 _Change the subject you damn idiot._ He yelled. _Change the damned subject._

"Gee, ah…you _are_ good at reading people," Sam said. "I'm kind of impressed."

"Ah, thanks," she replied.

"Where'd you learn it?"

"It's kind of an acquired talent," Cera replied. "Back when I was…alone, you might say, I'd usually meet up with Pokemon along the shore of where I'd used to live. I could usually tell which one would go and get me food upon request just by watching how they talked and acted. It wasn't easy at first. One time I asked a Wingull for help and they just chased at me like I'd attacked them or something. Another one I'd meant by accident actually when I was absent-mindedly walking down the beach and ran into her. Not only was _she_ the one to apologize but she actually brought me some food at my request. After a while, I just kind of started picking up on certain things the nice ones were like compared to the rest."

"Kind of cool," Sam replied before yawning. "You never told me you lived on a beach before."

"Yeah," Cera said nonchalantly. The beach subject was almost like it a distant dream she had just mentioned. "I got really good by the time I was brought to Pallet Town. Watching Professor Oak and other humans I got _really_ good at reading people. I mean, _down-right scary_ at how I was able to guess people's moods from time to time. When it really helped was when one of the professor colleague's would send over a Pokemon that he would be studying. Sometimes they were too rebellious or too scared, maybe even just too unresponsive. Since I was kind of able to tell ahead of time it was easier for me to approach them to assist in Oak's research. I remember Arthur used to poke fun at me for it all the time."

"Who's Arthur, exactly?" Sam asked.

"Oh," Cera replied. "Arthur…he was…he was a Magby I had the pleasure of working with when I still lived with the professor. He um…he was my friend and…"

"Wait?" Sam interrupted. "He wouldn't be the Magby Alex had, would he?"

"He would be," Cera replied.

Sam sighed deeply, pressing his head deeper against the pillow.

"Now I remember you mentioning him," Sam replied, yawning again. "You…we've fought him twice now."

"Yeah," Cera said. "Arthur's always done what he's done because he's wanted to, and not because anyone's told him. He's…he's kind of stubborn that way. I think he even chose to become a potential starter for you and Alex…"

Sam didn't hear much else after that. By the time Cera had gotten into the finer details of what she was saying, he was already drifting off to sleep.

{Jackson's POV}

The next morning they were treated to a plain breakfast of salad and fried Magikarp. The food wasn't terrible by any means but it felt awkward as Jackson had to squat on the floor to eat the green stuff. She was much more accustomed to sitting in a tree. Leif seemed to have the same problem as he munched the spinach as well, looking over his shoulders like a predator would sneak up on him at any second. Clearly arboreal Pokemon weren't meant to sit on such a low level. It made Jackson edgy seeing out of the corner of her eye humans walking around so freely.

Her trainer, Cera and Judeau sat on the chairs above Jackson, eating the Magikarp, seemingly lost in their own conversation as they were oblivious to the world around them.

"Leif," Jackson said in human. "There's something I'd been meaning to ask you."

The Treecko turned to her.

"I saw the way you spared that Nincada back in the forest," she said.

Leif swallowed, looking sheepish.

"It made me realize that, as someone who wanted to stand by her ideals of pacifism as much as possible, I've been a hypocrite in not sparing the Pokemon I come across," Jackson said. "These Pokemon we have to fight, its cruel they're pitted to the death."

Leif shook his head.

"Yeah," he said. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that. It was foolhardy to-"

"No!" Jackson interrupted. "Didn't you hear what I said?! I'm envious you did. Sometimes I'll think about the way I killed that Caterpie back in Viridian and wish I'd had more self-control. But the truth is, despite how I come off, I'm not a very experienced fighter, so I don't know how to spare my opponents. You don't think you could teach me, do you? Please, no one should have to die anymore."

Leif swallowed what was in his mouth before looking at her disheartened.

"I understand your disappointment," he said. "But the reason I can fight like that is for two reasons. One, you saw me use Absorb, which is much easier to control than a hit from tail, and second I've been trained-"

He stopped in mid-sentence, apparently trying to backpedal what he said.

"Self-taught," Leif corrected. "How exactly to defend myself without disposing of another life. Even still, that Surskit you saw? It was dead, killed by accident, even though I know how to spare life."

"Well, could you teach me, even if you're not perfect?" Jackson asked.

"I could try," Leif replied. "If we ever found suitable ground to do so. Wild Pokemon are vicious enough as it is. It'd take a while."

Jackson smiled.

"That's fine with me," she replied.

{Judeau's POV}

The Mareep looked kind of glum as they walked down the streets beside Cera. Jackson and Leif hung on Sam's arms or shoulders.

"Do you have any idea what danger this gym will pose to us?" Judeau asked.

"Relax," Sam said. "I'm pretty sure this is a Rock-type gym. We Leif who is strong against that."

He stopped in front of a tall, gray building that took up about three times the width normal buildings on the street did.

"Have you thought of any more preventive measures to keep us from getting killed?" Judeau asked. "Or are you just gonna wing it and risk getting us killed?"

"You know," Sam said. "It's very ironic you say this since I'm still the one who decides if you eat or not."

"Feh," the Mareep replied. "I graze wherever."

Sam pressed the door open for Judeau to see a lobby not unlike that of the Pokemon Center. It was empty except for an attendant who stood behind a desk.

"Hello, sir," the woman with blue hair said. "May I take your name as I presume you are looking to take the preliminary rounds to battle Brock the gym leader?"

"You presume correctly," Sam replied. "Sam Turner from Pallet Town."

"Alright," she said. "Since you are the only challenger at the moment I will only take a moment."

The woman left through a door behind her. The five of them waited a few minutes before she came back.

"Alright," she said. "The next room, where you see the door in front of you, has different trainers waiting for you. If you want to face Brock, you must defeat all of them in to-the-death-match. Got it?"

All of them nodded. Sam led them towards the door. Inside was a gym with a craggy surface of earth and boulders littering the field with dozens of rows of stands to the side of the gym that could seat hundreds. At the opposite side of the gym stood a girl with freckles and red hair and a stocky man tossing a Pokeball in his hand.

"You the challenger?" the girl asked.

"Sure am!" Sam yelled so they could hear him.

"This'll be a double battle, ya' hear?!" the man asked. "Choose two Pokemon to fight, and so will we!"

He turned to his Pokemon.

"Alright, Leif, I think you should go up since you have the type advantage, I think," Sam said.

"True," Leif replied tersely.

"Um…who else?" Sam asked.

Judeau looked down, honestly considering who should fight next before Jackson walked up to him.

"Sora…I was wondering if you would…" she began. "Well, if you would…"

"Wanted me to fight for you?" he asked.

She looked at him with a surprised expression.

"I've known you for a while," he said. "I know you wouldn't want to kill if you didn't have to."

"If you think you can do it without killing them," Jackson replied. "My moves are more physically aggressive as yours could probably knock them out without their trainers noticing. Leif says that he'll teach me how to control my attacks when we get the chance."

"Sure thing," Judeau replied.

The Mareep marched up to Sam.

"Hey, kid," he said. "I can fight if you need me to."

"Um…as long as they don't have any Ground-types," Sam replied. "Wait, I think Leif will…never mind. If things get bad, I'll switch you out."

"And I'll make sure to cover you," Leif said reassuringly.

Leif and Judeau stepped out to the front of the battlefield. The trainers at the opposite end of the battlefield flung their Pokeballs to which appeared a metal-looking Pokemon with four legs and a strange Pokemon with no arms with a gigantic nose.

"I think one is called a Nosepass," Sam said as Judeau saw him take out his Pokedex and point the eyepiece at the four-legged one. "Let's see about the other…"

He paused for a moment before looking down at Judeau.

"I looked on both their data," Sam said. "Neither are Ground-type."

"Kay," Judeau said, staring down the Steel-type.

 _Make sure not to kill it._ He thought. _At least for Fasha's sake._

"Aron, use Metal Claw!" the man shouted.

"Nosepass, Rock Throw!" the girl yelled.

The Steel-type Pokemon raced at Judeau while the one with the weird nose tossed rocks at them. Leif dodged them as best he could while Judeau ran out of range of the falling stones. However, he ran right into the Steel-type charging at him. The Aron slashed its claw into Judeau's wool, but only nicked the top of the yellow material. Just Aron was about to go in for another strike, the Mareep jumped on top of the Aron, preventing it from escaping before unleashing a wave of electricity into its body.

The Mareep stood up, noticing how the Pokemon beneath him began to twitch as it could not escape the paralysis of the Thundershock. He looked at the Aron's trainer, smiling coldly.

"He's been taken out for you!" he replied before the man returned the downed Steel-type.

"Nosepass, Protect!" the girl cried.

When Leif's palm aimed at the side of the Nosepass, its body immediately hardened there like shiny granite. Leif's hand bounced off of the Rock-type's body to which Leif landed on the ground in front of his opponent. Judeau, rushed in, charging at the large Rock-type.

"Now use Rock Throw!" the red-haired girl said.

The Nosepass flung part of its exterior skin at the Treecko, hitting him squarely in the chest. Leif bent down, hurt by this attack while the Rock-type marched at him, readying for another Rock Throw, before the Mareep charged into Nosepass and, while they were in contact, let loose a Thundershock. The Nosepass fell to the ground with a large THUD. He twitched somewhat before Leif stood up and put his palm to the Rock-type while whispering "Hold still and you will live."

After a moment the girl returned her Nosepass to the Pokeball, hanging her head in defeat. They both looked at their Pokeballs with surprise, suspiciously turning back to the Mareep and Treecko. They looked at them with surprise as they placed their Pokeball's back onto their belts.

 _They know we didn't kill them._ Judeau thought. _But the truth is they don't want their Pokemon to die just as much as the next guy does._

"Well," the male said. "Since you've one, you will get your gym battle with Brock. Wait here and we'll be back."

He turned to exit the room along with the girl beside him. Judeau and Leif walked back to Sam.

"Alright," he said. "That was pretty good. Barely a scratch on you guys. I can't help but feel proud."

"Pretty easy," Judeau said, smirking.

That was before a horrible lurch overcame his stomach that produced an audible growl. Sam looked confused.

"You hungry?" he asked.

Judeau fell over, rolling on the ground, moaning in pain as he felt his legs turn to jelly.

"Oh shit!" Sam said, kneeling beside the Electric-type. "Some-somebody! Help!"

"Relax," Jackson replied.

"It'll be over soon," Judeau said through his groaning.

His fur grew rapidly while his legs and tail stretched to become longer while his head grew.

"Oh my," Cera gasped aloud.

When the transformation was done, Judeau stood on his back legs, his skin gone from blue to pink, his once-yellow-wool now turned white with a longer tail.

"Is—you've evolved?" Sam gasped.

"No, I ate some bad fertilizer and morphed into the first-ever-albino-Mareep," the Flaafy replied. "What'd you expect?"

"I—I…" Sam's voice trailed off.

"Sam must not have never witnessed evolution before," Leif said. "I remember the first time I saw it. It's not a very…pleasant sight."

"It sure doesn't feel good at first," Judeau replied. "But now…"

The newly evolved Flaafy loosed a jolt of lightning at the ceiling, letting flack of charred plaster and stone fall as a result.

"Eat your heart out Raikou!" He voiced.

"Hope nobody notices that," Cera said as she stared up at the burned spot.

"What are you exactly?" Sam asked. "A…um…an Ampy…?"

Judeau snorted in reply.

"Kid, did you ever leave your house from wherever you came from?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"How often?"

"Um…" Sam said. "Let me think about that…"

"He's a Flaafy," Jackson replied. "You don't have to be so rude about it."

"Yeah, but he's our trainer," Jackson replied. "He's _supposed_ to know this crap. If _you_ , as one of his _Pokémon_ , know more than he does, I don't think we're very prepared or in good hands."

"Judeau," Sam sighed.

"Please!" Cera said. "Don't be like this! Sam just forgot your next evolution. He'll pull us through victory. He knows his stuff!"

Judeau looked Sam over, taking special notice of his timid look.

 _He wouldn't last a day in the wild._ The Flaafy thought. _Only got so far because we've been protecting him. He's just a scared human whose been protected all his life. We fight better without his orders._

Judeau heard a door open and they all turned to see that the man and girl had returned. They walked midway between their group and the battlefield before speaking to the Flaafy's trainer.

"Brock says he can schedule a battle with you tomorrow at one o'clock," the girl said.

"Got it," Sam replied. "I'll be there."

The five of them exited the gym, Sam waving goodbye to the receptionist.

"See, I told it wouldn't be bad," the human said to Judeau. "It was pretty easy and since you evolved, you'll be just that much more prepared!"

"Yeah," the Flaafy sighed. "But I won't be of much any help. The only Rock-types I've come across, a Geodude and his sister, were both Rock and Ground-types, something I do nothing against. I won't be of much help."

{}

Judeau curled up at the foot of the bed where Sam slept, beside Cera and Jackson. Leif laid on the headrest of the bed, snoring gently. The Flaafy could not sleep no matter how much he closed his eyes.

 _If Fasha were hurt…_ He thought. _Would…would I live? Would I continue going on without her? She's the only thing I have left. My mother, my siblings, all gone to being these evil peoples' batteries. They're probably dead if not begging for it._

Judeau stood up, nudging the Mankey in the side. She turned over to him, eyes wide open and somewhat red.

"I knew you weren't asleep," he whispered in their native tongue. "Will you be fighting tomorrow at that battle?"

"I have to," Fasha replied. "As a Fighting-type, I have an advantage over Rocks. I'm going to tell Sam that. In fact, I wanted to apologize to you. I'd have done so if I thought you were awake."

"To me?"

"I shouldn't have made you fight just because I didn't want to," Fasha said. "It was the selfish thing to do. My own moral code shouldn't get in the way of our survival. It's—it's just wrong of me. So when I go on to the battlefield tomorrow, I need to make up for what I put you through Sora."

"You didn't put me through anything," he replied. "So don't pretend like you did."

Judeau laid back down, somewhat calmer.


	9. Chapter 10

{Jackson's POV}

Leif swept his tail at her, knocking her to the side.

"Non-vital areas," the Treecko said. "They're usually located near the outer limbs and, in my experience the very top of the head. If you want to learn to fight without killing, you have to immediately take advantage of openings."

The Mankey stood back up, brushing the dust and grass of the side of her tan fur.

"The reason my tail hit you was because, just as you were about to use Karate Chop," Leif instructed. "You turned your side to me slowly and gave me the vantage point I needed to hit an attack off."

"What about my Low Kick?" Jackson asked. "Does that seem like something that'd be a non-fatal weapon?"

"That sounds good enough," Leif replied. "You seem to be doing better at this than I thought you would."

"Thanks," she replied. "Us Mankey get used to fighting from a young age. It comes naturally after a while. Speaking of which, how did you get so used to fighting?"

"Oh, you know," Leif said casually. "I suppose the same as you. Lived in the wild, had to stay alive, got used to smacking around those that otherwise would have eaten me."

"But how do you know such good fighting techniques?" Jackson asked. "Not every Pokemon surviving knows that kind of stuff."

The Treecko's eyes darted to both sides before replying.

"I taught myself," Leif replied. "Have to do what you can to stay alive."

 _What is he avoiding telling me?_ The Mankey asked herself. _What kind of guy is he if he doesn't even tell me how he learned to fight? Is—is there a reason for it?_

{Sam's POV}

"Ahh," Sam groaned. "I hate stale bread."

"You bought it," Judeau replied as he ate his bowl of greens. "You may as well be the one to pay for it, with money or not."

Sam glared at the half of loaf he was holding, sighing as he continued to bite into it. He held the plate below the bread as the crumbs fell down, careful to not let any of them fall to the lobby's floor. He sat in the chairs to the side of the lobby while Cera and Judeau stood on Center's floor in front of him, sharing a bowl of spinach. Judeau ate heartily while Cera seemed disinterested in her food.

"After paying for this we only had about thirty dollars left," he replied. "Staying here, combined with a breakfast and dinner, is expensive. We're poor as dirt until we win against Brock."

"No pressure, got it," Cera said dryly. "I was so worried about this battle I can't think of eating breakfast."

Sam pointed to the spinach in front of her.

"Eat. I just said this stuff wasn't cheap."

Cera groaned as she picked up a clump of leaves and ate with all the enthusiasm of someone taking cyanide.

"That's better," her trainer replied. "We're eating one last meal here tonight before we leave. I'm getting some meat if I can afford it."

"Where are Fasha and Leif again?" Judeau asked. "I forget."

"Who?" Sam asked.

"The Mankey," Judeau answered.

"They're training in the garden out behind the Center," Sam replied. "The nurse said they could so long as they don't disturb the Pokemon there."

"I didn't hear of this," Judeau replied.

"Eh, we slept in," Sam said. "Since the battle wouldn't be for a few hours I didn't see the problem getting some rest. The two of them decided they wanted to train before the gym battle started. Don't see why they'd want to but it couldn't hurt."

"They may wear themselves out," the Flaafy said. "Hope it doesn't affect their performance fighting."

"Yeah, I know," Cera said. "And considering those two are the ones who will be doing the most fighting."

Sam finished the loaf before turning to his Smoochum.

"I can understand Leif," he said. "But why Jackson?"

"She's a Fighting-type," Cera said. "They super-effect Rock-types."

"Thanks for telling me that. I forgot about that type match up."

Cera almost glared at him with disappointment.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I told you," the Flaafy replied. "I _told_ you."

Cera shook her head before going back to taking bites of the leaf while Sam stared bewildered at them.

"I'm confused," Sam replied.

"Don't worry," Judeau replied. "You just possibly missed something that could possibly cost us our lives. Are you _trying_ to get us killed?"

"Um…"

Sam quickly looked to see the door the left side of the Center's wall open, revealing a Treecko and a Mankey that scrambled toward him.

"We're finished," Jackson replied. "For the day at least."

"Great," Judeau replied. "Help us with this green shit. It's terrible."

The two of them joined Cera and Judeau to wolf down the spinach while Sam discussed strategy.

"Okay," he said. "I figure that since a lot of Rock-types are also Ground-types, Leif will be the perfect match up against Brock's team. Considering his speed he should be able to strike first before those slow ass Rock-types can do much of anything."

"Anything else?" Leif asked.

"Besides switching into Jackson that's all I got," Sam replied. "It's not a very sound strategy, I know-"

"That hasn't stopped before," his Flaafy said. "Don't let it while you're ahead."

"You got a better idea?" Sam asked. "Like, being released into the wild?"

"No," Judeau said. "This sounds like a more feasible alternative."

"Then shut up," the trainer said. "Anyway, you guys are going to have to think on your feet I suppose, not much I can do."

"How much time is there until the battle?" Cera asked.

"From what that clock said its ten thirty o'clock," Sam said. "I guess that gives us…a good two hours at least to discuss battle strategy?"

"I think you're right," Jackson said.

{}

As Sam led the four of his Pokemon down the street he couldn't help but noticed the traffic of pedestrians was not what it usually was. The people of Pewter City usually had more chaotic patterns of moving but this afternoon they looked as though they were moving in the same direction. Sam's heart raced as he knew the answer.

"Where are they all going?" Jackson asked.

"Who knows," Cera replied. "They may be handing out water or rations. This city is so cramped the distribution of needs can't be very egalitarian."

When they finally arrived at the gym, Sam's fears were confirmed. On all sides the Pewter Gym's buildings were open doors he had not noticed before. There were men at each of the doors taking money from whomever entered with maybe dozens of people in each line. He also saw that the domed gym roof he had observed before had retracted so it was open to the harsh sunlight.

As they neared the gym, Sam saw the people surrounding him looking at him with a mixture of chuckles and enthusiasm. They waved at him like fan boys and girls like he was a popstar. He shrunk back in embarrassment.

"An outdoor stadium?" Cera asked. "And these crowds…Sam, is all this happening because of your gym battle? How did rumor get out so fast?"

"I'm not sure," he replied. "I know I didn't tell anyone."

They entered the gym's front door to see the receptionist from the other day was looking at Sam with a beaming smile. Outside the door he used to enter the room where he had his battle yesterday, he could hear the screaming of hundreds of people.

"Welcome," she said. "Your battle should begin in about a minute or so."

"Why are there so many people here?!" Sam asked desperately. "It—there…how can so many people find out so quickly?!"

"Gym battles in cities are a big thing," the woman replied. "There isn't much as far as entertainment is concerned. When the word a challenger is competing against Mason or his son Brock as many people as possible are bound to show up. Everyone who can spare twenty dollars usually comes. If they don't, they usually watch it at home on their television. Spectators are encouraged as battles usually make people want to join the military."

"You mean, I'm going to be on television?" Sam asked unnerved.

"Only in this city," the woman said. "Due to complications with the power supply and wild Pokemon tearing down the power poles, we haven't been able to extend our reach very far in the past two years."

"Shit," Sam moaned.

"Nervous are we?" she asked. "Well, it won't get much better than it is now. Better get on out there before they tear you apart for not showing up."

Sam did as she said and opened the door to be blasted in both ears by those screams from the crowd that surrounded him. He could even see cameras being held up by some pointed at him. He recoiled back in near pain at how loud they all were, shaking in fear at the stage fright he was getting.

"This is too loud!" Leif cried.

"How many people must there be?!" Cera asked. "You can't be serious!"

However, the screaming stopped in an instant. Sam looked on the other end of the field to see Brock raising his hand to hush the audience. He looked over at Sam before taking a Pokeball from his belt.

"Let's begin this battle," he said. "The challenger, Sam Turner, will face my six Pokemon in a one on one battle for the prize of the Boulder Badge and three hundred dollars cash prize. Now, Geodude, you're up!"

Brock threw his Pokeball into the arena where a Rock-type with strong arms fell to the ground. Sam turned to Leif.

"I'm on it," he replied.

{Leif's POV}

The Treecko walked on to the battlefield, stopping just at the white line that separate the two halves of the field. The screams of people had gotten better as they were more respectful when anticipating a match. Honestly, it was hard for Leif to tell one human over another, their faces looking so similar.

"As Pewter Gym Leader I will have the customary first attack!" Brock yelled. "Geodude, Rock Throw!"

The Geodude tore pieces of its skin from its main body and threw them in chunks at him. Leif swept his arms back and ran toward his opponent, the rocks missing by yards. He arrived next to his opponent in a second before putting his palm to the Rock-type's chest.

"Absorb!" Sam cried.

The tendrils from Leif's hand snapped into action, immediately latching onto and digging beneath his opponent's skin. In a second they pierced into what he supposed was a Rock-type's equivalent of veins and sapped nutrients from the Geodude. Leif's opponent tumbled over to the side, grasping at his side weakly. The Treecko turned toward the gym leader, making sure their eyes met.

"Return your Pokemon," Leif said.

Brock returned the Geodude to the Pokeball.

"I don't take orders from a Pokemon!" he said.

Brock looked down at the ball, going wide eyed at the sight.

"Did…did you not-?" Brock stuttered.

Brock shook at the Treecko before throwing another Pokemon out.

"Go! Rhyhorn!"

From the Pokeball emerged a large Pokemon Leif had only glimpsed at in the wild before. It stood on four sturdy legs with a small horn that it lowered at Leif, as though it was about to charge at him.

"Rhyhorn! Show them your Rock Tomb!"

The quadruped reared up its front legs before stomping into the ground. Emerging from the ground around Leif were cone-like boulders that surrounded him. They continued to protrude from the ground until one emerged underneath the Treecko's feet.

"Aw!" he cried as he found himself standing on top of one.

However, the bottom of his feet and hands adhered to the surface of the rock just as it rose to the surface. Leif leaped from the boulder he stood atop of to another rock just a few feet away. He then leaped from each of the rocks until he met the Rhyhorn. He jumped to hit the Pokemon with an Absorb attack from the head, draining its nutrients directly from its body. The Rhyhorn fell over before being to its returned by Brock.

"Seems your stronger than I anticipated!" he said. "I won't do that again! Go, Vulpix!"

A red foxlike Pokemon was sent out from the Pokeball to which the Fire-type reared its head up against Leif. The Treecko felt himself withdrawn back into the Pokeball.

{Sam}

 _The only Pokemon I have that aren't super-effected by Fire are Jackson and Judeau._ He thought. _Jackson, being a Fighting-type, will have to get in close to attack while Judeau can stay out its range with Electric attacks._

{Judeau's POV}

"Thundershock!"

"Dodge!"

The Flaafy sent a jolt of electricity at his opponent to which it jumped out of the way, running around the Rock Tomb towards Judeau.

"Keep it at bay with your Electric attacks!" Sam ordered. "Don't let it get close!"

Judeau blasted more volts of electricity around him as Sam ordered, but the Vulpix was nowhere in sight.

"Vulpix! Quick Attack!" Brock yelled.

In a flash of red the Vulpix appeared behind a boulder and charged right into Judeau's stomach. He fell back into another rock with a moan of pain.

"Hypnosis!" Brock said.

The Vulpix met Judeau's eyes and, ever slowly, he was lulled to sleep by the eyes of the Fox Pokemon…

Judeau snapped forward, awake, to a stinging pain. He looked across shoulder to see he'd been burned by a fire. He threw himself into the ground, slamming himself into the dust. On instinct, Judeau let out a Thundershock at the Vulpix in front of him to which she screamed in pain at before falling down, paralyzed. Judeau sent another jolt into the Vulpix before she lay still. A red beamed flashed that took the Pokemon back into her ball.

"Go! Omanyte!"

Appearing before Judeau was blue squid with a spiral shell, staring at him with unblinking eyes.

"Judeau! Thundershock! It's a Water-type!" Sam cried.

"Omanyte use Mud Shot!"

There attacks went off simultaneously. Judeau shot a Thundershock at the Omanyte from his body while Brock's Pokemon spat wetted earth at the Flaafy. Judeau was flown back and the Omanyte crumpled to the ground, not moving. Brock returned it to his Pokeball while Judeau was returned to his Pokeball.

{Leif}

Leif Absorbed the Kabuto's health through his hand's tendrils. It weakly crawled toward him to attack before Brock returned it to its Pokeball.

"It seems you've brought me to my last Pokemon!" Brock yelled at him. "However, he's my strongest and may turn the tide around for this battle!"

"I don't know how you could think that," the Treecko replied. "We've taken your other Pokemon out with less than a sweat. A pretty big boast for someone at the end of the line."

"Go! Onix!"

From the Pokeball appeared a gargantuan snake made entirely of boulders. It towered above the Treecko as it intimidated him. He backed down slightly, glaring up at his opponent. He waited for orders from his trainer at the sight of a behemoth before looking back to see Sam staring up at the Rock-type, gazing off at it like he was paralyzed. Leif shook at the sight before turning back to his opponent, before springing at his opponent, arms outstretched.

"Onix!" Brock yelled. "Swagger!"

The Onix twisted its body in the air causing the Treecko to miss his target, falling to the ground from the failed lunge. Leif looked up at the Rock-type, eyes widening as he saw its body move in such an odd way, twisting in the air like a spiral as though it were…dancing? Leif stared up at it before his nostrils were assaulted by an almost burning scent. The Treecko was put on his knees, all of his senses and thoughts being thrown out the window as he became completely mindless. In his failed senses, the world became an intense, whirling blur around him as though he'd fallen from a tree, everyone around him appearing as unformed blobs in the speeding blur.

{Cera}

Cera smelled a small whiff of…something in her nose and apparently so did Jackson and Judeau.

"What's that smell?" Jackson asked. "Can either of you smell it?"

"I…I think so," Judeau said. "Does…does it sting or something?"

Cera took a bigger whiff of air through her nose before turning to two Pokemon.

"That's definitely something," she said.

"I think it's coming from Brock's Pokemon!" Judeau said.

Cera looked to see the Onix spinning in the air on its tail like it was performing some weird dance. As she looked on she saw Leif climb onto the top of a boulder but, instead of his usually lithe self jumping from one rock to another, he was staggering around with his legs in wide sways as though he was…confused. Cera almost jumped at her conclusion. She turned to Sam who was looking up in awe at the Onix.

"Sam! Sam!" the Smoochum cried. "That Onix is using Swagger! It's releasing pheromones from its body that shuts off a nearby Pokemon's senses and sends signals directly to its brain to start becoming erratic for a prolonged period of time! Sam?!"

He continued looking on at the tall Rock-type, as though he didn't hear her.

"Sam!" Cera yelled. "Leif needs to be returned to his Pokeball, the suction will release the pheromones he inhaled! Return him! Now!"

Sam's head swaggered and, before she knew it, foreign memories and emotions started bubbling in the back of her head.

"Sam…?" she stuttered and she saw it all.

{Sam}

Sam stood there, only twelve at the time, clinging to his mother's right arm with his sister clinging to his mother's left. They stood in the middle of the small town, in a crowd of all of the town's inhabitants, mumbling to one another as they shook their heads in dismay. Sam could remember feeling frightened and anxious, tightening his mother's arm when all he wanted to do was run as far away as he could. That was before he saw Professor Oak running out of his house/lab toward them. The doomed look on his face said it all. He remembered that this had happened before, when he was a kid, only he'd felt safer since his dad was there beside him.

"I've just got word from the Viridian City!" he yelled. "The army from Johto that crossed into Kanto is retreating here! The gym leader from Pewter and Viridian is pursuing them to the ocean where they'll have no choice but to top dead in their tracks! We'll be sitting ducks if we don't move fast!"

"What do we do?!" they crowd cried a hundred times.

"Get everything you can carry from your house, haul it into the woods nearby and hunker down!" Oak yelled. "Don't move unless you absolutely have to!"

Sam's mother led him and his sister into their house where she raided through the doors of what little clothing they had. Sam remembered helping his sister assemble his sister's belongings, putting them into his old bag he'd had since he was a kid along with his things. They took what they could, bundling it in their arms like dirty laundry before dashing off into the woods at the edge of the town.

Sam dropped down to the leafy floor beneath him while his mother clamped he hand over his crying sister's mouth. From here they could see their house in the late afternoon sun, their town standing almost picturesquely against the red sky against the ocean. It was something he'd grown used to seeing from living there all his life. However, it was quite shocking to see his neighbors dashing to get all their belongings in the arms, making several routine trips in and out as the scrambled like a swarm. Sam remembered rocking himself against the forest floor in anticipation, the loud rumbling the rustled the leaves against his skin growing more powerful.

"Mother," he asked. "Could we please leave? Go deeper into the forest. Please, please…?"

"No, son," she said. "We're staying here. Right here, right now."

"But why?" he asked. "There's nothing we can do. Nothing—"

"Be quiet," she said. "This is our home. And since it's ours there will be nothing we will do to abandon it. Would you abandon your sister?"

That last part struck a chord with Sam. Whenever he would do something wrong or make a mistake his mother always guilt-tripped him the exact same way. She always tied it in to his sister somehow, no matter what it was. Would you drop and spill your sister like that? Would you forget to clean your sister's hands? And not just when he'd do something wrong either, no. It would be whenever he disagreed with her like now. He almost despised her when she would say that. Just as Sam wanted to tell her off, figuring now was his chance, he heard a loud roar.

"VRRROOOOOM!"

It bounced Sam off the ground just an inch, knocking the breath out of him, but he was so scared he forgot he could barely breathe.

That was before several cries, before looking over at the scene in front of him. Before his eyes, Bird Pokemon swooped down from the sky following several of what he recognized to be Magnemite. Mixed in the crowd of Pokemon and trainers were large snakes taller than his house that looked as though they were made of metal, towering over his town as well as blue snakes that danced in the grass. The Johto forces were rushing through the town as the townsfolk parted in their way. Sam heard a loud crush that sounded like wood being smashed into pieces. He turned around to see that many of the trees farther to the left of him had been knocked down by the dozens.

Trampling their way through there were what Sam recognized as Rock-type Pokemon crushing the wood and earth beneath their path as they charged at the Pokemon in front of them. Following them were many Fighting and Ground-types like Machamp and Marowak as they descended upon their enemies. Roars, blood, the hurling of bodies, smashing of houses, they all happened before his eyes in an instant. Many of townspeople of Pallet still in their homes were thrown like ragdolls to the side at the force of the Pokemon's attacks. Not only that but those hiding in the forest were often caught in the crossfire, stray Electric and Fire attacks blackening people and flying rocks and debris knocking down trees that were their only cover, leaving them even more exposed to the Pokemon's ruthless attacks.

As much as he wanted to bury his face into the leaves what kept Sam watching was the giant snake made of boulders that roared enough to shake the branches of nearby trees and loosen the roofs of houses. Standing on top of the stone beast was a very muscular man with a great beard that Sam had seen on TV before, commanding Rhydon below him to attack the slim blue dragons with a loud, erupting voice. He recognized the man as the gym leader of Pewter City, partaker of bloody Pokemon battles he'd often witness. It was a very surreal experience, watching someone he'd grown to know as a celebrity standing like that, commanding the destruction of his home as he was. He watched as he clung to the Onix's head tightly before it spun in the air in a dance. In between his large gulps of air, Sam took a large breathe and felt woozy as he did, his stomach feeling as though it was making a whirlpool in his intestines. He, he felt sick as his sister yelled through his mother's hand, the world around him going to hell.

 _It'll be alright._ A voice said. _Calm._

The boy looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

 _Calm. Stay calm. It'll be alright._

It was confusing hearing this voice, as Sam wanted to believe the voice more than anything, but not being able to see the source of it, he found himself confused and afraid.


	10. Chapter 105

{Cera}

Cera focused, trying to direct her telepathy to be as soothing and assuring to the boy as downright possible. Her telepathy, she could sense, wasn't working well enough so that Sam was brought out of the illusion of his memories, only they weren't as bad as what they could be. She shook with anxiety over having to support her own trainer like this.

"Jackson!" Cera said. "Get Leif's Pokeball and recall him!"

"What about Sam?!" Jackson asked.

"I'm trying to keep him occupied!" Cera yelled. "I don't think this is a normal flashback! So long as those pheromones stay in the air, he won't stop seeing the same vision! Do it!"

{Jackson}

Jackson climbed atop Sam's leg, looking at the four Pokeballs that hung from his waste.

"Which one is Sam's?" the Mankey asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's the one furthest from to his left!" she said. "Get it now and go onto the battlefield!"

Jackson took the Pokeball furthest from the front of Sam's body into his paw, pressing the button to open it. A flash of red light appeared to burst out of it as fast as a lightning bolt. Jackson saw the Treecko clinging to the boulder captured by the beam of light and taken into the Pokeball. Jackson placed the ball back onto his belt.

As soon as she did this, the audience began to gasp in confusion, loud mumbles being heard about this. Jackson stepped up to the arena before jumping onto one of the Rock Tomb and looking at Brock.

"What?!" Brock asked. "What happened?! I did not see Sam recall his Treecko! What happened?!"

"Leif has been recalled!" she yelled. "I am your opponent!"

"Has he been returned at Sam's behest?!" Brock yelled. "I demand to know why I did not see Sam return his Pokemon!"

"He did!" the Mankey yelled. "Now, forget about it and fight me! I am your opponent, your battle is now with me!"

"So be it," Brock said. "Onix, attack with Slam!"

The Onix swung its tail at Jackson to which she leaped up to dodge the tail that broke the Rock Tomb beneath her. She dashed toward the Onix, using the boulders of the Rock Tomb as spring points to leap from. As soon as she got within the area the Onix's main body. She leapt from the top of the boulder to hit its side with Karate Chop, holding her fist against the boulder of its body she had broken as it toppled down.

"VROOOM!"

 _Non-vital areas._ Jackson told herself. _Non-vital areas._

The Onix fell to the ground, kicking up dust and roaring. Jackson dashed toward the Rock-type and, just as she appeared right up against it, attempted to sweep beneath its tail with her leg. However, the Rock-type was quicker than she anticipated and bent its body away from her leg.

"Too fast," she told herself.

"Now use Dragon Breath!" Brock yelled.

The gargantuan Pokemon raised its head and released what appeared to be a silver gust of hot air from its mouth. It hit Jackson squarely from above, singing the tip of her fur before blowing her aside like a leaf in the wind. She flew into an opposing boulder before falling to its base and struggling to pick herself up before her arm muscles felt stiff, causing her to give way and fall back to the earth.

"Damn," she said. "I'm paralyzed."

{Sam}

Sam looked around, seeing he was in a totally different place. He was no longer in his old home town, no longer seeing it being destroyed. He looked around, remembering the crowd he was battling for.

"Sam," Cera said. "Are you feeling better?"

Sam looked down to see the Smoochum beside him, slowly remembering his old life at his old, familiar home was over. This was his new life, fighting and killing for a living with strangers he'd met only a few days ago.

"Sam!" she said. "Jackson's in trouble! She's fighting Onix and from what I could see she's losing!"

"Cera," he said. "Where's Leif, I thought he was fighting."

"Not anymore," Judeau said. "We had to return him to his Pokeball he was doing so poorly in battle."

Sam gritted his teeth, looking at the massive Rock-type as it swung its tail at Jackson. The boulders from the Rock Tomb had almost all been broken as the tail smashed apart every boulder it hit. What scared Sam was that, from as far as he could tell, Jackson was barely evading the Slam attacks, her feet only a few feet above where Onix's tail had just appeared. It looked as though her speed had decreased.

"Why is she moving so slowly?!" Sam asked. "She's a Mankey, she should be a lot more nimble than that!"

"I don't know," Judeau said. "But as far as I can tell it happened as soon as she was hit with a move that Brock called Dragon Breath."

"Dragon Breath?" Sam asked. "I…I think Professor Oak told us that move can paralyze Pokemon!"

"Oh, so you remember _that_ but not my evolution," Judeau retorted. "Way to have some selective memory, kid."

"Should I go into battle?" Cera asked quickly. "I can super-effect Onix with a Powder Snow, it being a Ground-type."

"No," Sam said. "My plan with Leif was that he would hit those Rocks hard and fast with super-effective Grass attacks by utilizing his speed over their power. The reason that didn't work was because Onix are fast for Rock-types, and a well-trained one like Brock's has probably trained extensively to maximize that advantage. What Jackson needs to do is utilize her raw strength over Onix's."

"How?" Cera asked.

"Watch," he said. "Jackson!"

That caught her attention. Sam could see her jumping backwards into the air, waving back at him. The Onix rested its tail to the side, obviously tiring from swinging it so much. However, his Mankey looked just as tired.

"I need you stand still!" he yelled. "When Onix attacks with its Slam, you have to face its tail head on!"

Jackson apparently did as he said because she turned to face where its tail was resting.

"Onix, Dragon Breath!" Brock yelled.

Jackson jumped to the side, avoiding the gust of silvery air.

"Now use Slam!"

The Onix roared before it swiped at Jackson with his tail.

"Catch it!" Sam ordered.

The Mankey opened her arms wide as its thick tail it the front of her body, dragging her as she held on into one of the last remaining boulders from Rock Tomb. The rock shattered as Jackson's back slammed into it, her body obscured by a cloud of dust and stone chunks.

 _Please be alright._ Sam thought. _Please be alright._

As soon as the dust disappeared, he saw Jackson standing in the remaining rubble, holding onto the end of Onix's tail like it was for dear life. Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

{Jackson}

"Onix!" Brock yelled. "Move your tail!"

"VROM!"

It attempted to move its tail from her grasp but all Jackson did was cling on tighter. Jackson's arms were squeezing tightly against the end of the Rock-type's body, the rough boulders it was made of tearing slightly against her skin. Jackson's entire face was pressed tightly against the Onix's rough, dense skin, poking through her fur into her stomach and eye. As it attempted to move its body she gave it another squeeze, causing it to lose its balance as it couldn't stand without its tail being on the ground and toppled over.

"Damn it!" Brock yelled. "It can't move! Onix!"

"Now Jackson!" Sam yelled. "Throw it into the air!"

The Mankey held the end of the Onix's tail as hard as she could before taking its body and whirling it around in her arms. She did it for a revolution and a half before throwing its body upwards and letting go. It was quite a sight to see to see the Rock Snake Pokemon fly about ten, maybe twenty feet or so, before taking headfirst dive to the ground. When its enormous head crash-landed into the earth below such a loud rumble was let out from beneath it that knocked Jackson off her feet onto the ground. She stood back up, witnessing as it attempted to slightly lift its head up, before jumping onto a boulder to get a better view of Brock.

"You're Onix is dead," she replied.

He returned his Pokemon to its ball. The crowd began to roar with excitement at the defeat of their gym leader, raising a thunderous sound of applause. Brock walked from his position at the end of the arena to the middle, looking at Sam. He raised his arm, signaling for the crowd to quiet to which they obliged.

"The victory has been earned by Sam Turner of Pallet," Brock said. "If you would be so kind as to meet retrieve your gym badge, I'd be happy to give it to you."

{Sam}

Sam walked halfway to the battlefield, careful to step of the remains of shattered rocks. He arrived in front of his former opponent who held out a shiny piece of metal, colored gray in the shape of an octagon. The tired boy took into his hand before being handed very thick billfold of money.

"As battle I award you the two thousand dollars reward."

Sam stood stupefied at the statement. At most, he expected five hundred dollars, six hundred if he was lucky, but certainly not this much. He held the billfold of cash in his hand as though it were a child.

"Sorry I don't award as much as others," Brock said. "I know most gyms give more but my town is short on cash now."

Sam almost fainted at the statement, knowing this was actually a lesser reward. He immediately wanted to tell Brock he didn't expect a fifth the amount but he instead decided against it. If he did that would make him look foolish, like he didn't know better. He instead replied with a quick "thank-you". After stuffing his money in pocket on the inside of his bag, Brock also had the courtesy to hand Sam a disc held in a strong plastic case. Inside resided a disc that was labeled TM 39 on the front.

"It contains Rock Tomb," Brock said. "If you put it next to a Pokemon's head they may be able to use the information inside to learn how to use it. However, once a Pokemon learns Rock Tomb by using the electricity inside the disc, the TM can no longer be used."

"Thank-you," Sam replied.

{}

Sam sat on the edge of the bed, filing through the money he held. Honestly, his feelings were quite mixed. He was holding something he'd desired for so long, real money. Money enough to finally afford anything he wanted, spend it anyway he chose. He could have anything he wanted with this cash and, if he so chose, plan to buy a home with it. Sam had never seen so many dollars in a cluster in his entire life. The feeling of his fingers running across the tops of them filled him with a sort of giddiness that was almost childish.

However, in the back of his mind he had pushed back into a corner feelings that had caused him to feel uneasy. In their moment of need, just when his Pokemon were losing from an unexpected obstacle, he caved in to the pressure. He lost it. Sam because so enwrapped in his own memories he forgot everything around him existed, including his Pokemon that were putting their lives out there for him.

Sam had been told by Cera and Judeau how Jackson had to climb up his leg and return Leif, a job meant for a trainer. Then Jackson went out and fought that Onix on her own, having to rely upon herself without his aid. It was a low moment for him, having to have his Pokemon do everything and make all the decisions while Cera tended to him like an overprotective parent. In that moment, he was useless to Jackson, useless to Cera. Useless to everybody.

 _And it will happen again to._ He thought. _If it happened now, there's no telling when it would happen again. I let myself get distracted and nearly killed my only friends. I'm going to let them die, everyone sooner or later. Jackson, Cera, Leif… When I would go staring off into space and fail them so that they die. Just like I failed Mom. Just like I failed Grace._

He sniffled slightly at the thought.

 _I guess Judeau was right._ He thought. _I'm not fit to be a trainer. I'm not fit to be a leader and trying to help these guys to survive. I don't... he was right not to trust me. I don't have any merit and here I am using them all to help me survive like a manipulative sociopath. I…I wish I could apologize to him, tell him he's right. I…want Judeau to know he was right not to trust me._

"Sir."

Sam bolted out of his stupor, looking in front of him. He saw the nurse look at him with an annoyed scowl as she looked at him from the door. She was handing him his tray of Pokeballs while in the doorway.

"I came to give you your Pokemon," she said. "Seeing as how you just walked away I figured I should give them to you since you weren't going to take them."

He took the four Pokeballs from the tray, holding two in each hand.

"Oh," she said. "Sir, I can't be responsible for giving your Pokemon personally when I have other work to be doing. Please, don't do this again. Are we clear?"

Sam tensed up at her words, hating her just for saying that.

"Shut up."

She recoiled at his words.

"Excuse me?"

"Shut up," he said. "I'll have you know I won against your town's wimpy ass gym leader. I killed all his Pokemon and I enjoyed it and they makes me better than you. You bring me my Pokemon because I deserve to be treated that way, because you're my bitch."

The woman looked at him with a mix of fear and resentment, tears welling up in Sam's eyes.

"Get out of my face," he said before shutting the door in her face.

Sam went to go bury his face into his bed, almost as if he'd suffocate himself before looking back at his Pokemon through their transparent Pokeballs. They all had sleepy, almost peaceful expressions, as if inside the world of blood, danger, and despair was just a distant memory. Sam put his face to the balls, wetting Judeau's and Cera's with tears.

 _Let's keep it that way. Let's keep this world a memory. Let's never have anyone die or be lost along the way. Let's survive and stay together. Because we all sure as hell know that the world doesn't give a shit about us, that's for sure._

Sam took a while before he decided to let his Pokemon out. He placed their Pokeballs on his bedside for who knows how long, just trying to rub the tears out of his eyes. He went to the small bathroom allotted to him, doing his best to get the red out of from around his eyes. He found splashing water from the sink doing a decent job at it. He took a small hand towel to rub at his eyes, looking at himself in the mirror to calm himself.

 _Okay._ He said. _We're cool. We're cool. We are going to be cool. I can't let them see me like this. To them, what I did back there was just a fluke and they won't know any different. They won't because I won't let them know._

Sam sat down on the bed before stuffing the money back into his bag. He held the Pokeballs out, hanging his head low, not daring to look at them before positioning his fingers over the buttons.

"Come on out you guys," he said lowly.

Four beams of light flashed from the balls as the materialized in the small room in front of him. Cera, Judeau and Jackson all looked as though they'd just woken up from a long nap before staring up at him.

"Hey guys," Sam greeted with feigned enthusiasm. "Feeling rested?"

"Oh yeah," Jackson said. "We're doing better already. That healing trip sure hit the spot."

"Great," Sam said as he kept staring at the floor. "That's good to hear."

He looked back up at them, noticing for the first time Leif was lying on the floor, almost motionless except for his eyes that kept calmly looking back at Sam then to the wall.

"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked.

"I don't," Cera replied. "Maybe the Swagger is still having an effect on him."

"Could be," Judeau said. "Maybe being brought back to his Pokeball didn't work the way you though it would—"

"Aaahh!"

They all turned to see Leif had let out a short scream. His neck sprung up a few feet, his arms stretching to almost ridiculous lengths. His legs grew to, forced to be longer and more bent in shape with longer, wider more developed feet. Leif's once short, round snout elongated with the rest of his head into a more reptilian shape. His skin's chlorophyll-colored pigment turned a darker shade of green as his thick tail flattened and slimmed into leaf that split into two long fronds. From the back of his head grew a long, wispy leaf that looked like a blade of grass. Finally, around his wrists sprouted and grew three short leaves on each arm that sprung up like a knife's switchblade.

When the evolution was done with, Leif stood up on his newly powerful legs, almost as if he would spring into action on them at any moment. He looked up at them with his new slanted eyes.

"A…a Grovyle," Cera said.

"Never seen one of those," Jackson replied.

"What were you expected?" Judeau asked. "For him to become a Fire-type? How's it feel to be evolved?"

Leif looked down at his claw almost like a curious specimen.

"I don't know," he said. "It feels weird having become this. I thought I'd never evolve."

"Well you did," Sam replied. "Guess that's something to be proud of."

The Grovyle smiled back up at his trainer.

"Indeed it is," he said. "So what now?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well," Leif replied. "We did just beat the gym leader of this town. If what Cera told is true and you accomplish to win money, where are we off to next?"

Sam laid back onto the bed, trying to think.

"Good point," he thought. "Where do we want to go?"

"What's nearest to here?" Cera asked. "Sam, you could check your Pokedex."

"How would that help us?" Sam asked.

"There's a map on it," Cera replied. "There's a little icon to the bottom right corner that looks sort of like a flag. You click on it and it'll show you a map you can view."

"Oh, thanks," Sam said as he pulled his Pokedex from his backpack.

He took it into his hands, doing as Cera had instructed him before enlarging and looking at the map. Judeau, Cera, Jackson and Leif all hopped on the bed beside him to look at the map displayed on the Pokedex's screen, trying to get a closer look at the screen. He found Pewter City pretty quick, a large dot on the screen where the labeled Viridian Forest surrounded it on all sides, except for what seemed to be a narrow mountainous valley not even a mile from its eastern border that continued to a large and wide mountain range. That narrow valley was labeled Route 3.

"I think we found out where we're going," Sam said.

"How can you be so sure?" Jackson asked.

"Not far from this town is some mountainous terrain that stretches to something called the Mount Moon mountain range," he said as he used his finger to drag it to a dot larger than the one that signified Pewter City. If we cross over those mountains in one of its less steep areas we'll arrive at a place called Cerulean City, a town I know for sure has a gym at it."

"How do we know this map is correct?" Judeau asked. "After all, it's not hard to figure it would get us lost."

"Actually it's pretty sound," Cera answered. "Since Professor Oak, the one who programmed the Dex, is a prolific researcher he usually works with all kinds of scientists and professionals from biologists to physicists. He's gathered information from plenty of topographers and, using the same kind of signal that updates a PC box, it updates these maps whenever new information crops up."

"So, this map is updating constantly from a wireless connection to Oak's lab?" Sam asked.

"Exactly," Cera assured. "Did you think Oak was sending to trainers out there without any kind of information?"

"I just didn't know the Dex could do that," Sam answered. "It'll be helpful from now on. We'll head out tomorrow because tonight we're getting some sleep."

His Pokemon all nodded.

{Judeau}

The Flaafy lay curled up at the foot of the bed similar to what he'd done last night. Cera dozed on a pillow on the bed while Jackson leaned against the bed's metal leg. Lief was using his leafy arm as a makeshift pillow as he fell asleep right outside the bathroom door. As sleepiness crept up on him, he felt tired thought amble their way into his mind.

 _Maybe I had been too hard on Sam._ Judeau thought. _I mean, from how I saw him order Jackson to fight he showed to be quite capable. As hairy as things get, I can't really blame Sam for not be totally cool under the threat of death every day. It wasn't his fault Jackson almost died back in the forest, I shouldn't hold it against him. It's not right of me. I—I'm sorry Sam. I was wrong. I…I hope you can forgive me being a smart-alecky grump while just doing your best._

{Sam}

The gates opened in front of him and his party for them to see the outside around him: nothing much more than barren earth with thick patches of grass. The five of them walked out of the way as the gates closed behind them. He was careful to lead himself and his Pokemon out of the city at a pace that wouldn't make them run into the carts beside them.

The wooden, wheeled carriers pulled by Ponyta and Rhyhorn strode beside them as they exited Pewter City. The early afternoon sun felt very good on Sam's eyes as he stared straight at the beaten path ahead of them that led to road down a far-off valley. There were many valleys that were in the side of the mountains in front of them, the carts pulled by Pokemon each being pulled into different ones. He looked to the side to see in the grass there was a bit of rustling coming up with the ends of tails and wings poking out at the top of the grass.

"Where are we going now?" asked Leif.

"That valley," Sam said as he pointed toward the ravine empty of driven carts. "Stay near me guys, I'm just a weak, defenseless human out in the harsh elements. You'll have to protect me."

"Eh," Judeau said as his fur began to spark up. "No problem. We got it."

They walked in relative peace up to the large, almost sheer slopes of the mountains on either sides of them. The ravine in between the slopes of the mountain was a bit unsettling to the boy who'd always grown up in flat farmland he wasn't used to the sight of large mountains to his side. It kind of made him long for home with his family back when his dad was around.

Sam often hated this kind of remembrance. It was a desire to go back to the past that triggered a sense of nostalgia of events he could do nothing to change yet crept up on him regardless. When he'd feel scared he'd often go back to those memories of when he was only a child. He remembered how back home before the war started and all the adults were dragged off to be made soldiers, the land around Pallet Town was actually pretty nice to look at. He could vaguely remember most of it as rows of freshly tilled farmland instead of the rough terrain of the field it was now. Since they were subsistence farmers with only a hundred or so living in town what excess they had they let the wild Pokemon feed off of in exchange for letting them use their land for farming. However, after only the age of ten or so, without anyone to till the fields, it had devolved into little more than the meadow it was today.

"Sam."

He snapped to attention, not realizing he had been lost in thought.

"What were you thinking about?" Judeau asked.

"Oh," Sam sighed. "Nothing. I guess I'm just scare of these cliffs, that's all."

"Maybe you should pull out that map of yours," Jackson said. "It'll help us navigate through here."

Sam did as she obliged and took his Pokedex out from his backpack, opening the map on it after flipping the screen on it up. The map predicted the way to the next town, very much farther westward, was a community only eleven to twelve miles away called Crater Town.

"It shouldn't be much more than roughly ten miles away," he said. "We'll just have to keep our eyes open for anything that tries to kill us."

"Speaking of things trying to kill us," Judeau said. "I haven't seen any wild Pokemon since we've arrived at this place. It's hard to tell but it doesn't appear there are any Pokemon around here. Or at least none I've seen."

"Yeah," Cera said. "Wilds usually swarm to attack humans. Why have they not appeared?"

"Well whatever it is let's just be glad we haven't seen any so far," Sam replied. "Could it be possible they know you guys are strong so they're not looking for a fight?"

"I don't think so," Jackson said. "In greater numbers they're more likely to take their chances. It's not likely they'd be too afraid of Pokemon they've barely seen to attack."

Now that they'd mentioned how there was so little movement the silence around Sam became eerie to a fault. They walked down the path in front of them until they came to a rough spot where a ridge blocked there path, forcing them to climb up to reach separate part of the mountain. It went on like this for a while, walking in a bit of quiet while climbing some small ridges, traveling along the spine of a small, branching hillside without much going on as Judeau began picking up a bit of a conversation.

"Yeah, well back home, before we had to leave, I used to climb mountains like this with my herd from time to time," he'd go on. "I'll admit it was kind of fun when we'd walk for miles on end being so high up. I always thought it made sweet grass that was there all the more better."

"Sounds nice," Cera said. "How close were you to most everybody in your herd?"

"Some," Judeau said. "Most in my immediate family. I was one of the middle children. We Mareep and Flaafy usually have several mates though, so I got used to having other siblings. I hate to say it though but a lot of my siblings looked down upon whoever was younger, usually because they felt they'd take away from the greater supply of food. I tried keeping up with the younger of my brothers and sisters but whenever they'd get in trouble usually it'd only be my mother, me or a younger one to help out. I had two siblings who died because the older ones just didn't give single shit about them, kind of wanted them to die."

"I'm sorry about that," Cera replied. "That sounds awful."

"Yeah," Judeau said. "And it didn't get any better when we came over here. Those generationals treated us like shit."

"Generationals?" Cera asked.

"It's a term for Pokemon who were born in the environment they lived in," Jackson explained. "As opposed to newcomers, Pokemon who left their old land for a new one."

"Oh," Cera replied. "Like how Judeau left with his herd to Kanto."

"Right," Jackson answered. "Generationals and newcomers usually were at each other's throats from where I came from. Most of them come over from Johto and there was just too many to have enough space, water and food. There isn't much you can do, regardless."

The five of them stepped down from the small spine of the hill to walk onto flatter land where the mountainous hills were more spaced out.

"Where to go now?" Cera asked.

"The map said to keep heading directly west," Sam said.

"I thought I saw other paths that went along paved roads," Leif said. "Shouldn't we take those?"

"Those are for the carts you saw earlier," Sam replied. "Crater Town shouldn't be much farther ahead."

"Wait, Sam-!"

Leif was interrupted by figures appearing from the mountains around them. Sam looked around to see humans in gray rags, similar in color to those worn by the trainers at Pewter City. They descended the slopes of the mountains, their Pokemon to their sides. Sam counted quickly, noting there were eight in total. One boy with a Surskit to his side approached Sam.

"What do you want?" Sam asked.

"We need payment," the boy, who couldn't have been more then nineteen, said. "Otherwise we won't be protecting you from the wilds any longer."

"Protecting us?" Cera asked.

"Why do you think no one gets attacked on these roads?" a girl snarled at the Smoochum. "It's because we're putting out lives at stake to make you travelers feel safe."

"So now you're going to give each of us at least ten dollars," a twelve-year old said. "Or we'll this particular path for you to fend for yourselves."

"No!" Sam said to the older boy. "That's unfair! You can't just leave us here at the mercy of the wild!"

"We will if we choose so!" a Pidgey at the girl's side said.

"If you don't have much we'll take some food instead," a woman in her twenties said. "Bread if you have some."

Sam glared them all down.

"How about we put that up to a test," Sam replied. "A battle, with my Pokemon versus yours. Fair?"

"Sure," the nineteen-year old said. "We'll do this with double battles! Two at a time, all of us get to fight."

"So be it," Sam replied.

{}

The battles went by fairly quickly. Cera knocked most of the Bug-types out with Powder Snow while Jackson beat back everybody with either a Scratch or a Karate Chop. Sam mostly sat back as the two of them near-effortlessly curb-stomped the opposing Pokemon. The only time Sam had to do any real strategizing was when the oldest boy's Nincada threw so much sand in Jackson's eyes she couldn't see any more to which Leif was thrown in to finish it with a Quick Attack.

After an hour or so when the fighting was finally finished Sam put the money back into his pack, the pocket the cash was stored in becoming fat with dollar bills. However, he barely registered the joy of seeing more money as his opponents around him glared back at him, begrudgingly acknowledging their loss. They seemed to bore holes in him with their eyes.

"What?" Sam demanded. "You accepted the battle. Now not only do none of us have any protection from the wild Pokemon but you lost money."

"You idiot," the twenty-year old said. "Our Pokemon are weak because we have to replace them so often. They die from all the violence and fighting they go through, giving us almost no time to train them."

"That's not my fault," Sam spat out. "You should have thought of that before ambushing us like you did. Now move out of my way."

The trainers did so only begrudgingly as Sam shoved them out of his way, his Pokemon flanking his sides. After he was in safe distance of the trainers he sat down on the slope of one of the many small ridges, looking towards the horizon. There wasn't much day left, the sun beginning to peek in the late afternoon sky.

"Great," he said. "We lost daylight from that fight with those bullies."

He sighed before turning to his Grovyle.

"Leif," Sam ordered. "Go find another path through these valleys. See which was is the safest so long as it leads in the direction we were going."

"I understand," Leif replied. "I'll scout out to see if there are any Pokemon nearby while I'm at it."

He departed in a leap. Sam took out his canteens while pulling some food out from his pack.

"We'll stop to rest while he's at it," the trainer replied. "I hate to admit it, but those asses may have been telling the truth. They may have been what stopped other wilds from killing our asses."

Cera took some of the meat Sam had bought from Pallet into her stubby arms, stuffing into her mouth in a hurry. Judeau took a bite of some of the cabbage Sam scraped out of the containers. Jackson, however, didn't seem to be hungry.

"Sam," she said. "I think I saw you maybe the angriest I can remember back there. Are…are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said while stuffing his face with dried meat. "It's these kinds' of bullies I grew up with back in Pallet. They're meaner and use it to their advantage to push others around."

"But is that really necessary?" Jackson asked. "For you to act this way?"

"Why should we care?" Sam asked. "We're always getting pushed around, what does having an attitude matter?"

The Mankey shook her head.

"To be fair though," Judeau said. "They were acting like jerks before he was."

"Not necessarily a good justification," Cera replied.

"Does it really matter?" Sam asked. "If I push back all it means is that they won't think we're spineless. Besides, we have other things to worry about."

"Honestly that does sound kind of childish," Cera said.

Sam made an aside glare to her.

"Anyway," Jackson said. "I think we're wasting daylight. Leif may not find a very safe route like we want him to. I'm fast so I may be able to quickly go ahead of you guys, looking out for wilds and you three can follow me. If I find anything dangerous, I'll turn tail and run and you guys will already be ahead."

"Sounds like a good idea," Sam said as he stood up. "But won't Leif miss us?"

"I don't think so," Jackson said. "After witnessing his agility and keen sight firsthand in sparring matches, I think he'd be able to find us just find without knowing our exact location. Also, I think he prefers the time alone."

"How do you figure the second part?" Cera asked.

Jackson sighed and shrugged in reply.

"Just doesn't seem to be the touchy-feely type if you ask me."

"Makes sense," Judeau said. "Unlike the rest of us, we have no idea of Leif's background. That girl said she found his ball in the dirt as though someone had tried burying him. It makes sense for a trainer who didn't want him to abandon him and, as a result, Leif doesn't like getting close to others."

They all sighed at the thought before Jackson jumped onto a ridge of one of the slopes and started climbing forward. Sam and his other two Pokemon followed her.


	11. Chapter 11

Leif

The rock digging beneath his hands began to hurt Leif as he scaled it. He decided to drop off from the slope of stone to in the grass below, feet-first. For the most part this route seemed pretty safe, as though nothing really seemed to move around here at all. That was until he had caught something out of the corner of his eye. He had seen movement and as such followed it.

When Leif had landed in the grass, the first thing he was struck by was the smell of blood. He'd followed the scent as it became stronger the more he moved forward until he recoiled at the sight he saw before him.

In front of him lay the pierced, mangled, bitten and matted corpses of Electrikes. There were other Pokemon here and there, Pidgey, Rattatta, the occasional Growlithe, but none more so numerous than the bodies of Electrike. Leif walked over, in an almost hypnotic daze at what he saw. He looked at a rather small one, probably a cub, with its eyes still open and fresh blood coating its pierced neck. The sight burned the Grovyle's eyes as he shut them, tears stinging to the point of pain.

 _Trainers._ Leif thought. _They're trying to keep the population of Pokemon down by killing them. Just like they did my home._

He recoiled back as a nasty realization overtook him.

 _So that's why this valley is so safe. They kill any Pokemon that gets anywhere near these roads, their travelling paths they use to ride carts. It…human trainers have taken over this valley and any Pokemon herd that gets near these paths for carts is an acceptable target to be killed._

The Grovyle's heard clamoring noise. Alerted to the sound he turned his head to get a better understanding of what he just heard. From the sound of it, it seemed to be a large scuffle. Leif raced down the grass-laden path, his arms swept to his side as he always did when running at full speed.

 _Please._ Leif thought. _Please don't all be dead. Please. Please. Please…._

When Leif finally reached a fork in the path, he looked to see that a group of trainers, one with an intimidating Beedrill, had cornered a group of four Elektrike and one badly wounded Manetric against a ridged slope. The trainers' eight or so Pokemon looked like they were looking for a weak-spot in the wild Electric-types defense. The Electrike had circled the Manetric behind them, sending off light sparks to know their opponents should be wary.

Leif, in the heat of anger, yelled at the trainers.

"What are you doing?!" he shouted.

Most of the trainers turned to him.

"What?" one girl asked him.

"These Pokemon are defenseless against you!" Leif said. "Let them go and they may not retaliate."

"Fuck off," a guy said. "You overgrown Politoad."

"Some of these Eletrikes' herd were attempting to Thundershock our carts!" a girl said. "It was carrying food and irrigation supplies! It took all of our manpower to defend against their herd! We're were left hear to push back their herd so the Tauros could press onward without having to worry about it."

"Then don't punish some for the actions of all!" Leif said.

They ignored Leif, acting as though they'd pounce on the Elektrike at any minute. The Grovyle was tempted to use his knew move, Bullet Seed, on them from behind. However, Vage's words echoed through Leif's mind.

 _No one is evil. Everyone is only a good person trying to survive in a cruel world. If you pursue peace it will come, so take the most non-violent route you can when facing foes._

Leif shook at himself for attempting to kill the humans from behind so he rushed at them with a Quick Attack. He knocked an unwary boy to the ground, throwing his body weight into a trainer's Pikachu. The Pikachu flew into a trainer to knock him to the ground. The break in their defenses aloud the Elektrike to rush through and run as fast as they could away from the trainers, the Manetric limping as fast as it could behind them.

Leif stood up, his eyes darting to each of the young humans, observing as they their faces grew red with anger, their Pokemon beginning to hiss, snarl and growl at him. One Poocheyena in front of a girl looked as though it was ready to jump and take the Grovyle's head off with its fangs.

"You let them get away!" a girl said. "Thundershock!"

Leif dodged the Pikachu's volt of electricity, snapping to attention as the Poocheyena charged and jumped at him, its fangs bared at the command of its trainer. Leif rolled over to the side, kicking the pup away while he dodged the Pikachu's advancing Quick Attack.

"We can't chase them!" a boy yelled. "They're all gone! Now we won't be able to find them again and they'll continue to attack the Tauros carts! Damn it!"

"Beedrill use Twineedle!"

The Bug-type sped towards Leif on its gossamer wings, its gigantic stingers outstretched. The Grovyle didn't expect the Beedrill to be so fast and was surprised when it pierced his chest before stabbing right beneath his neck, close to his left shoulder. Leif screamed in pain and fell over, holding his wound while the Poocheyena bit into his wrist, drawing blood. The Pikachu hopped over onto his other arm, sparks emanating from its red pouches threatening to shock him. The Beedrill lowered its left stinger to Leif's neck almost daring him to move. The Grovyle could feel the poison course through his body, the familiar sensation of poison starting to take its toll. His vision felt slightly blurry as though tears were forming in his eyes, his feet becoming slightly numb.

The trainers gathered around him, glaring at him as their Pokemon encircled the Grass-type. Leif attempted to glare back but the pain made him wince.

"Watch should we do with him?" a girl asked.

"I say we stab him a few times to keep him down so that we can find his trainer," a boy asked. "He can decide if he'll punish his Pokemon or let us kill it."

"I doubt we'd be able to hold him down that long," another boy said.

"Maybe if we kill him right now and if anyone sees we can just say he was killed by some wilds," a girl said.

As they decided his fate Leif's eyes darted from one trainer to the next. Leif was assured that if he somehow removed the Beedrill from the situation that he could take on most of the other Pokemon or easily run away from them. The Grovyle's eyes quickly darted to the trainer of the Beedrill as he glanced over body, seeing no way he could survive a single Bullet Seed. His kneejerk reaction to that thought was Vage's words, telling him to do his best to not kill. Also, his pragmatic part of him said that killing the trainer may cause the Beedrill to stab him on instinct. It wouldn't exactly remove the threat of the Beedrill. Leif's eyes then darted to the Pokeball in the trainer's hand. Leif began moving one of the seeds from his gut through his neck

"I think if we let him go he could prove to be a bigger problem in the future," a girl said. "I mean what kind of Pokemon goes off and does this on his own-"

A seed shot from his mouth to shatter the Pokeball to pieces as the trainer held it. The boy screamed in pain as he held his bleeding in pain. The Poocheyena clamped down onto the Grovyle's wrist, causing him to yelp in pain. However, Leif's eyes never left that of the Beedrill's.

He saw the Bug-type had turned to see that all Leif had done was break its Pokeball. His large, red eyes beamed down at Leif, looking over him with as though it demanded an answer.

"You're free now," Leif said quickly. "They can't recall you back now. Let me go and go do whatever you want. Go back to your home, where you belonged before you're capture."

Leif tried to read the Pokemon's expression but couldn't make out anything in his face. It turned quickly to humans around it before launching itself at them. It ran its stinger through its trainer's body, leaving a gaping hole the size of a human head in the middle of his chest. The Beedrill then zipped over to use the sharp point of its stinger to decapitate a human girl before using the stinger on the end of its body to stab a boy in the face. When the Poocheyena left Leif's arm to jump at the Bug-type, along with a trainer's Jigglypuff that attempted to tackle the Beedrill, the larger Pokemon stabbed them through with a stinger each, blood bursting from their chest as he left holes in their body. The Pikachu left Leif's side nonchalantly, even giving him a small apology before doing so.

The remaining trainers scattered, running as fast as they could away. However, one girl that was too paralyzed to move had her face shoved in with the Beedrill's large stinger. Leif struggled to get up but the pain in his side almost prevented him from racing over as fast as he wanted to.

He watched as a girl's Ekans chased its trainer down, attempting to catch her by slithering through the tall grass before she returned it with her Pokeball, only to have her head sliced in half by the pursuing Beedrill's stinger. The Beedrill then stabbed the Pokeball of the Ekans and when it burst open a grateful Poison-type smiled up at him. Two Pokemon of the dead trainers encircled one boy, the Clefairy and Sandshrew jumping on top of their trainers and clawing his chest in.

The Grovyle raced over to see that the Beedrill, Ekans, Clefairy, Sandshrew, Pikachu and Geodude encircled the two trainers that remained, a boy and girl human.

"I bet you're not so keen on giving us orders anymore, are you?" the Sandshrew said.

"We've had it bad enough even without you in the wild," the Beedrill said. "It's payback time."

Just as Leif was about to launch himself at the Bug-type with a Quick Attack, a hot red mass of flames appeared out of the corner of his eye.

Leif instinctively jumped to the side to the Beedrill wings set aflame by small Embers. He fell to the ground, crying in pain as the Sandshrew tried to pound the fire off of him with his small arms. The rest of the Pokemon looked in the same direction Leif did.

The Ember had come from a Vulpix that stood next to a Poliwag, a Geodude, a Rattatta, a Bellsprout, and a Clefairy.

"What?" the Pikachu asked. "What are you doing?!"

"We're defending our friends!" the Poliwag cried.

"Or we're avenging the ones you killed!" Bellsprout said.

"Friends?!" Beedrill asked after Sandshrew had put out the fire on his back with sand. "Friends?! They weren't your friends! They used us! They killed my friends before they caught me!"

"They were trying to defend themselves!" a Clefairy said. "So what if they took us from the wild?! The wild is enough of a hellhole anyway! They were kind enough to us to give us food!"

"We fought to kill!" the Ekans said.

"The same as the wild!" the Geodude said.

"And now you plan on taking away our best source of food!" the Vulpix cried. "Die!"

The Vulpix scattered another batch of small flames from its mouth, hitting both the Sandshrew and the Beedrill this time. The Beedrill flopped on the ground as his body began to blacken and the Sandshrew staggered backward holding his chest and left arm in pain. The two rows of Pokemon charged each other, electricity, water, ten-foot long vines and rocks colliding as they did.

The two trainers slowly creeped away from the battle scene, looking as though walking away slow so as not to catch anyone's attention. Leif didn't know what to do, stunned by the clash of Pokemon his actions had created. He stopped back, watching them murder each in such a frenzy. He wanted to jump in and stop the fighting but it seemed that if he got too close he may get hit by stray Ember or Poison Sting.

The battle seemed to be over in a matter of minutes, most everyone either dead or too wounded to keep fighting. The Vulpix and Poliwag on one side with the Pikachu and Geodude on the other seemed to be the only ones left standing.

Leif took his chance after the fighting winded down. Before the Pikachu could send another Thundershock off the Grovyle Quick Attacked it, knocking it to the ground. The Poliwag sent Bubbles at the Geodude before Leif shot them all out with Bullet Seed. He then swept the legs of the Poliwag with a blow from his tail, making it fall on its back.

Leif looked downtrodden at the Vulpix, who seemed agitated that he had gotten in his way.

"This is not what I had intended," he said.

"I don't care," he said. "It doesn't matter what you intended. You made innocent Pokemon and people lose their lives."

Leif wanted to say no one was innocent in this before the wounded Clefairy from Vulpix's side stood up to flare at him. Her ear appeared to be chewed off and part of her chest blackened by lightning.

"My master caught me not far from the mountain where I was born," she said. "I hated going outside the caves because it was dangerous as the infighting between Pokemon was so fierce. My clan of Clefairy eventually left with me being left behind because I was weak. My future trainer found me starving one day and promised to take care of me so long as I fought for her. We had a friendship, with me and her Heidi the Poocheyena, and we were cared for and fed. Until today. Now no one cares for me. No one loves me or is my friends. You are responsible for not only the salvation of those Elektrike but the deaths of the Pokemon and humans that died here today."

Leif stepped back, shaking his head as though to refute what she was saying.

"I never…I never meant to," the Grovyle said. "I'm sorry."

"It's not good enough," the Vulpix said. "They're blood is on your hands."

Leif bolted as he said that, leaving in flash of green. The Pokemon behind him looked more and more miniscule the farther away he got. The Grovyle did not believe he was a failure, he _knew_ he was one.

 _Forgive me Vage._ Leif said. _For I do not deserve to live._

{Sam}

"Damn it!"

The Pokeball missed the Electrike by a yard or so. It gave Sam a quick look before dashing off.

"That was the second Pokeball I used on it," he said. "It still got away."

"Well that was your only catch for this route," Cera said.

"Not if we don't get caught trying to catch another," Sam said, smirking.

"Don't do that," Cera said. "If you get caught you'll be punished severely. They rely on a steady supply of Eletrikes and Growlithe that live in this area for electricity and warmth. Trainers catching more than they need is worth a very penalty."

Sam looked sheepish before turning around to look at Judeau and Jackson.

"How are you two holding up?" he asked.

Jackson jumped off the slope she was scaling, walking up to Sam.

"I haven't seen any more Pokemon beside Pidgey approach," she said. "That includes Leif."

"What do you think happened?" Sam asked. "According to my Pokedex it's been over an hour since we last saw him. Do you think we should stay put and wait for him?"

"No," Judeau said. "It's getting close to dark. We need to keep moving, probably find some place with higher ground like a hill or flatter part of the mountains before stopping for the night."

"I agree," Jackson said. "As worried about him as I am we need to think about our group first. Leif can handle himself for now."

Sam sighed before taking out his Pokedex, observing carefully the distance between their current location and Crater Town.

"The next town isn't a very far distance away," Sam said. "Only a few miles. Maybe if we get up early we can get there before noon."

"Which means we need to keep going on foot," Judeau said.

"So be it," Sam said before putting his Pokedex back in his bag. "Let's go."

Suddenly a flash of green appeared in front of Sam that fell from one of the rocky slopes that loomed over them. He looked to see his Grovyle bleeding in front of him, holding his wound in pain.

"Leif?" Jackson asked.

"What happened?" Judeau asked.

"Attacked by a trainer's Beedrill," Leif huffed.

"Beedrill?" Cera asked.

"Damn that must have hurt!" Sam cried.

"Weedle!" Leif corrected. "I meant Weedle! Weedle… Anyway, I'm not in so good shape."

Sam dropped his back onto the ground and fished out two spray bottles

"Let me give you a potion and antidote," Sam said.

Leif prostrated himself as Sam applied the medicine, Cera explaining how he should go about it. After he did his Grovyle stood up as healthy as before.

"You look better," Sam said.

Leif nodded in agreement.

"We were just about to find higher ground for a place to sleep," Jackson said. "Want to scout out some locations with me?"

"No," Leif replied. "I need to recover from these wounds, giving my body a break."

They all nodded in response. They walked another mile or two, mostly in silence as Sam leading them while his Pokedex was in his face as he tried to judge which way would more quickly lead them to Crater Town. By the time he judged they weren't more than seven or eight miles from the place the sun was barely peaking over the horizon. By the time the five of them became aware of this, Jackson had arrived back to say she'd found a decent sized plateau that the five of them could sleep on.

The Mankey led them to the plateau where a rough stairway looked as though it had been crudely carved that led uphill to the top. They climbed about twenty feet up before Sam laid down on the rocky surface, testing it out on his back.

"Looks as good a place as any," Judeau said.

"I can't really go to sleep right now," Jackson said. "I feel a little too unnerved to sleep right now."

"The feeling's mutual," Sam said as he sat up, his eyes looking downcast. He looked over at the sunset, enjoying the orange color the setting sun cast. "At least we get to enjoy the sun before it leaves. I know it sounds cheesy but, I always liked doing that before I went to bed. I stopped doing it about when I was seven. Guess I forgot how much fun it was."

"Sunsets," Cera said as she sat down. "That's something Professor Oak liked. A lot of humans liked it. I never got why. The orange mixing with the grayness of the sky…it just seemed too scary to me."

"I never liked sunsets either," Judeau said as he sat beside Cera. "It meant night was approaching. During the night was when you were most vulnerable to attacks by Houndour and the like. Hating sleeping while constantly under threat of being attacked."

Sam sighed and then grunted.

"Well if you don't want to watch you don't have to," he said. "I just wanted to for my own sake."

"Why don't you do something useful and dig out some food for us," Judeau said.

Sam did as Judeau ordered, digging out the tins of food he'd brought. He set them down, getting the meat they had stored up. The boy wanted to tell the Flaafy off for being a bit rude but didn't care all that much to stand back up to him. Sam took out the fruit and meat he'd kept stored in them, spreading it out on a spare blanket he bought in Pewter City.

"We need to eat most of that tonight," he said. "Before it spoils."

His four Pokemon obliged, picking at what was before them.

"Who's going to take watch?" Sam asked.

"I don't mind," Leif asked.

"You sure?" Sam asked. "You almost always take watch. We may actually rather have you here, for company."

"I don't mind taking watch," Jackson said. "You do it so much as it is."

"I wouldn't mind either," Cera replied. "If I see anything I could push someone away without getting up close since I'm Psychic."

Leif shook his head.

"I want to."

Sam shrugged before nodding as the Grovyle scampered away so that Sam could only see his faint outline at the edge of the plateau. He shrugged before turning back to his Pokemon to see that Judeau had already laid down on the rocky surface, apparently drifting to sleep. Jackson excused herself to go and take watch along with Leif.

Sam laid down on the plateau, trying to close his eyes before Cera walked over, staring at him.

"What is it?" he griped.

"I wanted to finish telling you about what I was saying that one night," Cera said. "It was important."

"What was it?" Sam asked.

"It was about Arthur, that Magby we faced," she said.

"So what about him?" he asked.

"I just never told anyone about it," Cera said as she sat down beside him. "The thing is...the reason I never told anyone is…Oak treated us like slaves."

Sam's eyes widened.

"Wait…what?" he asked.

"The thing was that…he was a sickly man," Cera said. "He had problems even getting up in the morning after a long night's work, sometimes a small cold even prevented him from doing much of any work. I…I never knew what to expect. The only one who would help me through it…was Arthur."

"Arthur?" Sam asked.

"It's only recently I've become somewhat strong," Cera answered. "Before then I wasn't able to lift much of anything. It was Arthur who helped me through it, picking up the load when I couldn't."

Sam turned over.

"Is that why you wanted us to spare him?" Sam asked. "Because...you…?"

"Loved him?" Cera asked. "Maybe over time I did, but Arthur was so clingy, so ready to do anything for me…a chivalrous knight you humans say…I didn't want to disappoint him with how worthless I really was. I never truly reciprocated his feelings. In fact, the only reason he came along with Alex was because I left on a journey with you. He just wanted to do it for the chance we could one day meet up."

"Sounds like you have mixed feelings for him," Sam replied.

"I guess," she said. "I never really could get used to use chivalry and found that close relationships…never were what I wanted. I was so lonely for so long I expected the best from people…but with Oak being as demanding as he was and Arthur being acting as both a jerk and overly possessive…I guess I expected too much."

Sam sat up, crossing his legs.

"I guess you never told anyone this before," he said.

Cera shook her head.

"No one to tell it to," Cera said.

"I'm sorry," Sam said. "Truth be told…I didn't have such a great home life either."

"How's that?" Cera asked.

"My mother…she…," Sam started. "She wasn't the nicest to me."

"Why?" Cera asked. "What happened?"

"She…" Sam said. "Oh…it was awful. After my dad left for war my mother had no one to take care of us. With most of the men gone the fields were untilled and was eventually reclaimed by the wild grasses. After that we didn't have much to eat except for what the people of Pallet shared with one another in the community. It was around the time my dad stopped writing back and the money we needed stopped coming in."

Cera looked down.

"Samuel," she said. "If this is bothering you then…then we can…"

"No, no it's fine," Sam replied. "I never had anyone to talk to about this with before. I always waited for my dad to come back and when he didn't I just kind of withdrew into myself, waiting for something I never knew would return."

"I'm sorry," Cera said. "You don't have to talk about it-"

"No," Sam said. "I want to. There was someone though who helped us get back on our feet during troubled times."

"Let me guess," Cera said. "Was it the professor?"

Sam turned to her, a bit stunned.

"How did you know?" Sam asked.

"He told us he often visited you guys…specifically your mother," Cera said. "I…I guess that I implied all I needed to, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "After a few months my little sister Grace had been born. It didn't take me long to figure out she was my half-sister on Oak's side."

Cera smiled up at him.

"Well, did your sister bring your family any happiness?" she asked. "Surely you found some joy in it?"

Sam scowled down at her, shocking Cera to the point she scooted away in fear. He didn't care about her feelings, only turning his face forward.

"Depends on who you're asking," Sam said. "My mother was overjoyed when she was born. Too overjoyed."

"I don't follow," Cera said. "From what Oak told me your mother became a living wreck from the stress of trying to raise you alone. She was until the day you left."

"Yes," Sam said. "And after Grace was born she forgot all about me."

"What?" Cera asked.

"She always doted on her," he said bitterly. "Acting like she was the center of the household. I never saw something my mother cared for more than Grace. I could tell my mother had stopped loving me after she was born, always putting me down, comparing me to her precious doll. I hated her."

{Cera}

Cera looked up at him, shocked at what he'd said.

"You…you can't be serious."

Sam, the person she was supposed to protect on orders of the professor, he was…was he a monster. His eyes had a fury that Cera had never seen in anyone before. Oh, in the past couple days she had fought her fair share of Pokemon but they were mostly indifferent to her individual presence more than anything else.

Here, with Sam, his eyes were a strange mix of confusing emotions. Sadness, guilt, hatred, fear and murderous rage all wrapped into one terrifying expression. All because Cera would never have guessed Sam had this much aggression just stored up in him.

"You didn't hate that child," Cera said. "You couldn't have. Could you?"

Cera could feel the hatred, the fear, the guilt that emanated from Sam. It was like musk from a wild Pokemon. It was almost overpowering how much she could feel this odd mix of emotion, his aura of sadness and guilt-tainted hatred smothering her like the air had just turned thick. He just stared off into the night in front of him, almost not bothering to answer.

"I hated her," he muttered. "I hated her because my mother had found her family. I never had a family Cera and she'd found her own. With Oak and Grace. And I wasn't in her picture. She loved that thing, she praised that thing…it was more than I'd ever be worth to her."

Cera felt something she thought she'd never experience with her trainer—endangerment. She felt honestly endangered by Sam, as though he would hurt her. Cera didn't know why. Maybe seeing how genuine Sam was at first was quite a shock to his present personality. She backed away, slowly.

"Good night Sam," she said.

"Night," he said bitterly.

Cera laid down not far from Judeau as she looked up at the night sky above her.

Somewhere in her, Cera had come to terms that everyone was not perfect, that everyone would sooner or later let her down. Oak appeared to be nice when she first met him, Arthur seemed to be only protective and somewhat insecure, Sam acted as though he was nice if a little naïve.

 _Hell, even Judeau seemed nice enough at first._ She thought.

But that was the maddening point. They always let you down. She hated getting to know Arthur just so he could turn out to be jealous and insecure about any kind of feeling he'd have for her, simply because he'd been the only one he'd ever cared for. Cera sighed at the thought, knowing Sam was just another disappointment.

 _Honestly._ She thought. _People and Pokemon really are evil, I suppose. I wonder if I'm like that, deep down._

{Leif}

The Grovyle sat observing the night out beneath the plateau where they slept, his vision growing dim from introspection and fatigue. He found himself picking at the stab wounds that were slowly healing. Leif almost scowled at how big the wounds were, the potion it took to heal the skin taking longer than expected.

 _Weedle's Poison Sting my ass._ He thought. _I could fit pebbles into these sores._

Leif wondered why he had even lifted a finger to help those Elektrike. He knew from experience that, unless he was in a group, he'd never be able to do anything by himself. He was no warrior, not like Leela or Vage, nothing but a simple tree guardian.

 _No._ He thought. _I'm more than that. They both told me I was. And I believed them. They encouraged me to try and I did. But is trying to make things better worth the risk of making it all worse? I suppose I'm an idiot for ever asking that question. A great hero would be able to do it without posing that risk. Could Vage or Leela have done it? I'm not sure of that one._

He sat down, wondering what they would have done. Instead though, Leif could not help but remember what they were like, the nostalgic memories he had of them. Now Leif remembered how the closeness of his friends gave him a warmth and purpose he'd otherwise never known.


	12. Chapter 13

Leif held his bruised shoulder in pain as he staggered on the leaf-covered floor of the forest. He scowled down at the ground, hating the fact he was too tired to climb trees so he had to walk on the ground. It was a good thing the Treecko knew this forest well, as during this time most predators were in fact gone from this area of the woods. It gave him some alone time to reflect on the past tribulations.

Again he had spared with his brethren Treecko as they had practically dragged him along to another session of testing his physical prowess and power. His older brother, Relan, seemed to think he'd grown by this time. However, just like every time he spared with the other Treecko, Leif had failed miserably, putting up little competition against others the same age.

 _It's true._ He thought. _I truly am a born runt of a weakling._

As Leif dragged himself through the forest, his head lowered as a sign of defeat, when he heard a rustle to his right. Leif immediately whirled to the side to see a shape of purple with green wings charging forward. The Bug and Poison-type tackled the Treecko head on but he jumped to the side just in time to avoid it. Leif stared the attacker down before bolting forward, passing it in a green blur.

 _Damn it._ He thought. _Forgot Dustox mate this time of year. When Pokemon are like this and have a brood of hatchlings they're territorial as all hell. Hate these seasonal spawning cycle. What sense does it make to only mate at a certain time of year?_

Seeing as how the Dustox was now flapping its wings at him, spreading a bright yellow powder around him, Leif dashed across the forest. As fast as he was, he was worn from the battles and sparring he'd had with his brothers, the Dustox was not far behind as they both crashed headlong into shrubs and underbrush beneath them.

Leif then decided to use an old trick he'd learned as a denizen of the forest.

Just as he was racing at full speed, the Dustox only a moment behind, he came to a complete stop. He readied himself, lifting his tail at just the right angle with his body hunkered low as the Dustox overshot itself. The Bug-type zoomed next to him, flapping too fast to stop. And just as it passed right above him Leif flung his body sideways, his thick tail slamming the ass of the Bug-type.

The momentum of the Pound attack slammed it into a tree with a loud THUD!, the Pokemon flopping to the ground in a crumpled heap. Leif smiled as he saw the Pokemon attempt to pick itself up with its tiny feelers and large wings before a large black jaw protruded from the shrub behind it. Strong teeth flashed to grab up the downed Bug, tearing its body in half with a clean bite.

Leif's jaw dropped to see a Mighteyena appear from the greenery, swallowing one of half the Dustox in a single bite, the Pokemon's green, papery wings torn off from its main body and lying to the side. The Mighteyena then swallowed the other half as the feelers on its body still moved with anticipation, down its gullet in a split second. Yellowish-blue blood covered its fangs as its red irises then turned to the Treecko. Its keen vision looked over him, obviously noticing his tired expression and bruises on him, opening its mouth in anticipation for its next meal.

 _Shit._ Leif thought. _What's the likelihood of this happening right now?_

Leif turned and dashed across the forest floor. Leif attempted to scale a tree but found his arms far too tired to do any work other than hang limply to the side. He narrowly dodged the Mighteyena's mouth as its front teeth scraped against moss-covered bark. Leif flew through the forest, going as fast as his tired legs could carry him, panting while doing so.

However, just as he could hear the Mighteyena's large pants and gulps of air behind him as it crashed through the underbrush, he heard a loud SMACK!

Leif whirled around to see a white fist crashed into the Dark-type's jaw, sending it crashing into a hardwood tree. Leif stood staring at his savior.

The Pokemon had a yellow underbelly with red exoskeleton that, when folded, shielded his gossamer wings. He had black stars on the red covering and six arms that held a small white fist on each one, with a human wristwatch Leif though it was called around one of them as well as a black scarf beneath his large head.

 _A Ledian._ Leif thought. _But how? Why? They usually don't go that thick into the forest? Could it have lost its herd?_

Just as the Mighteyena recovered from its blow and charged at the Bug and Flying-type, a blue wing smacked across the face, sending it back. Leif saw a large Swellow with the same black scarf had hit the Dark-type with a Wing Attack, staring it down almost nonchalantly. The Mighteyena turned to dash off into the woods, leaving Leif to stand in awe at his protectors.

"That's right!" Ledian said. "Runaway in the fury and overwhelming might of…Team…!"

Ledian struck a pose to bend his upper body down to the right, stretching his arms at a degree like he was punching the sky.

"Black Star!" he said. "Raining hope onto all who cry out for justice and putting fear into the hearts of evil-doers and predators everywhere!"

The Swellow next to him covered her eyes with her wing, as though she was embarrassed for her friend.

"Please Vage," she said. "We talked about this. At least don't do your posturing while I'm around, kay?"

"If I were to listen to you, I'd never get anything done," the Ledian replied. "If we don't do this, people won't know who we are and if they don't, they won't come to us for help."

"Um, thank you," Leif said.

The two of them walked up to the Treecko.

"Sorry," the Swellow said as she looked him over. "Hmm, let's see here…I think a few berries may do the trick to heal him right up. You seem pretty banged up kid."

"Yeah," Leif said.

The Treecko felt as though he should have told the two of them it was because he was so bad at sparing with his own kind but couldn't let go of his hurt pride, so he figured he didn't need to tell them.

"What do you say, Vage?" she asked.

"We'll bring him back to the hideout, Leela," he said. "I think we've stocked up on enough berries to get him back to full health. Hey, Treecko, what's your name?"

"Um, Leif."

"Leif, you mind hopping on Leela's back?" he asked. "We'll take you back to the base and then we'll drop you back off here. Kay?"

The Treecko smiled faintly.

"Sure I wouldn't mind that," he replied.

The Swellow turned her back towards him, extending her wings.

"Well hop on!" she said.

Leif climbed on to her back, feeling the warmth and kind of furriness her blue down gave her body. The Swellow flapped her wings before lifting herself to the height of the treetops. Then she started soaring on her outstretched wings ash she climbed higher in altitude, her speed slow and steady by the time she began flying horizontally. The wind resistance may have been a problem for him had his adhesive digits not stuck so well to the body of Leela. Within a minute, the Treecko saw the Ledian flying on his clear wings beside them.

"How do you like the view up here, Leif?!" Vage asked.

Leif looked down below, seeing the forest as nothing more than green sea beneath him. He couldn't see any Pokemon below him, his view feeling empty as he did.

"Kind of lifeless!" he yelled back over the wind. "I can't see anything or anyone from up here!"

"It's not a very intimate view from up here, is it?!" the Ledian asked. "But it feels great to do so!"

Ledian flew past the two of them, Leela struggling to catch up as he did.

{}

Leif watched as Vage parted the wall of ivy from the sheer rock slope, revealing a tunnel with moss growing over most of the inside. Leif stepped inside, seeing it had weird objects and structures to the side of the cave made mostly from what appeared to be wood. The Treecko walked up to one of the wooden structures, stroking what appeared to be a leg.

"Wow," Leif said. "What is this?"

"That's a chair," Vage said. "It's furniture, something humans use to sit and place things on."

"We actually have a particular interest in human culture, Vage and I," Leela said. "Now, come over here so I can make you a little chipper."

Leif followed the Swellow as she walked down the tunnel, stopping at a sack in the corner. Leela untied it with her beak before reaching in and taking a small, blue fruit from inside. She dropped it at Leif's feet, smiling as best she could behind her beak. Leif took the small fruit into his palms before taking a bite out of it.

"I say he'll need about two," Vage said. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Leela nodded as she handed him another.

Leif happily bit into the second fruit, now what he recognized as being an Oran fruit. He relished the feeling of the pale blue juices gush from his mouth, smiling a bit at the unexpected refreshment. He then ate the whole thing, licking his mouth.

"I feel better already," the Treecko said.

"That's good," Vage said. "Oran fruit usually does the charm. Even though it will take a while before it heals your wounds, you almost immediately gain a bit of energy."

"Yeah," Leif sighed. "We don't have them often where I live."

"Why is that?" Leela asked.

"Oh, well," Leif said. "My parents were Newcomers in a big migration that took place before I was born from. Apparently a food shortage came about as a resort, so Pokemon looking to get fruit to heal their ailments aren't as likely to get them."

"Actually that may be one of the main reasons Vage and I came here," Leela said. "We've been staying here to hand out fruit we can scavenge to Pokemon who need it the most."

"We've also been having to make sure no Pokemon steals the rations we give out," Vage said. "It's becoming frustrating to deal with all the Pokemon out there trying to get the other's fair portion."

"We also try to solve land disputes as best we can," Leela said. "That's usually even harder."

"So why did you save me?" Leif asked.

"Eh," Vage shrugged. "Isn't that what anyone would do? Save someone if they could?"

Leif frowned.

"No," he replied. "I didn't think anybody would really give a damn."

Vage laughed.

"Eh," he said. "Pokemon aren't as bad as you think. They would if they could help. Most just can't, being stuck in the position they are. They'd help if they could little man."

Leif sighed as he glanced down at the floor.

"Well, maybe," he replied. "So, when you can you fly me back? I kind of have to get back to my nest and it's getting dark soon."

"Nah," Leela said. "Sorry, can't do that yet. My arms are a bit soar from flying around all day. One Pikachu we were working for said that a bunch of Newcomen Wurmple were invading on his family's orchards. We'd gone to check it out and well…let's just say he was right."

"There was web everywhere," Vage said. "So. Much. Wurmple web. But yeah, too tired kid. Spend the night here and we'll take you tomorrow if we can. So, what do you want to do now?"

"Oh, maybe spar a bit," the Swellow said. "That'll feel fine."

"Spar?!" Leif shouted. "But I thought you were too tired?!"

"Sparring _is_ what you do when you're tired," Leela said. "It's fun. You're never too tire for a spar!"

"How?!" Leif asked abruptly. "Whenever I fight I feel pain all over!"

"Hmm," Vage hummed. "Maybe you can watch."

Leif was led by the two of them outside the cave where the climbed up the sheer rock wall. There, on the flat land, the Swellow and Ledian took to opposite sides of the field, extending their limbs.

Leela charged at Vage first, her wings fully extended. She attempted to strike him with her wing as he blocked it with two of his arms before throwing a punch with three of his fists. Leela dodged before jumping back. She rushed at him again, this time with her beak extended and her body pointed forward. Vage caught her beak with two of his white hands before pushing her back with the other four. Leela spread her wings as she fell back, the wind resistance catching her as she did so.

This time, Vage charged at her, flying on his clear wings and firing punches like a piston. Leela put crossed her wings in front of her, shielding herself from Vage's blows before Vage charged headfirst into her shield of her wings. Leela was pushed a ways before sending Vage flying when she broke the stance of her wings.

She then charged after him, taking to the air. Vage saw this coming as he charged right back but, as he did so, he dove underneath her right before he would collided. He punched from beneath but Leela dodged it by pumping her wings to fly upward. Leif watched in fascination as they collided in the air over and over again, fighting at a speed and grace he'd never seen before.

 _They beat my fellow Treeckos' fighting style._ He thought. _No way could they ever compare. I gotta try this out._

When Leela and Vage descended back down to the ground, panting and weary, it was then that Leif ran up to them and asked them his question. Leela fell to the ground panting, laughing a bit as she did.

"Man," she said. "I think I did a bit too much. Overdid it."

"How did you fight like that?" Leif asked.

"Like _that_?" Vage said. "There's not much special about it."

"Standard fighting moves," Leela said. "Nothing much fancy or even all that powerful of fighting techniques."

"Really?!" Leif asked. "But…but that's better fighting than I've ever seen anyone do before! The rest of the Treecko in these woods couldn't lay a finger on that!"

"That's because most Pokemon don't know how to fight like that," Vage replied as Leela stood back up. "It's not naturally born. It takes a while to learn and master."

"I…I want to know how to fight like that," Leif said. "If I could then I wouldn't be so much of a burden to my brother. He always has to check in and take care of me all the time because I'm such a weak Treecko. Can't even go much outside these woods because I'm afraid that, without adequate cover. Could you teach me how?"

Vage looked to Leela before they turned back to him.

"I don't see a reason why you couldn't," the Leela replied. "But you'd have to train with Vage, seeing as how he's closer to your body shape and could spar better with you than I could with my wings or talons."

"I guess we could give it a shot," the Ledian said.

He looked toward the horizon, seeing that there was still quite a bit of sunset to be had before the sun left out of sight for the day.

"We got time," Vage answered. "I'll show you now if that's okay."

"Great."

{}

Vage's kick with his leg tripped Leif, sending him crashing to the ground. He sprung up as immediately as he did, throwing his tail into the Ledian. Vage caught it in two of his arms before picking the Treecko up off the ground and throwing him in a circle. Leif skidded across the rock surface before stopping. He stood back up before sweeping his arms to the side and rushing forward.

Vage didn't seem to flinch at the sight of the Quick Attack, instead having his gossamer wings appear from underneath his back's exoskeleton and flapping them until they became a blur of silver. Leif felt a strong gust of wind hit him as his speed stopped completely and fell back to the ground. The Treecko stood back up, a defeated expression on his face.

"How'd that happen?!" he asked. "Quick Attack's my strongest move! It shouldn't have been that easy to block it, should it?"

"Well," the Ledian said. "The reason that happened is because your Quick Attack is too predictable. You run in a straight line instead of bouncing with your speed, working to gain momentum the closer you get to your opponent."

"How's that supposed to work?" Leif asked.

"Oh," he chuckled. "You're a Treecko. You should naturally be gifted at bouncing from branches. Watch."

Vage unsheathed his wings again and, instead of flapping them quickly like he did before, he slowly buzzed them as he did just what he informed Leif to do. He sort of hopped in a zig-zag motion, gaining momentum and speed the more he bounced on his way to his imaginary target. He then turned to Leif.

"See?" he asked. "Not so hard, was it? Now you try."

Leif nodded. He straightened himself, leaned forward and rushed to the right. He then bounced like Vage had said to before jumping to the left. He continued doing this in a zigzag pattern for a while, getting the feel of his new form of Quick Attack.

"Better!" Vage shouted.

{}

Leif ducked Vage's third punch before jutting in with an uppercut of his own, knocking the Ledian's head up. Before Vage could retaliate Leif jumped back, his tail cocked in readiness as he prepared for his next attack. Vage's gossamer wings appeared out of his read back, and with those wings came the straight-forward charge. Leif ran at the Ledian, timing it just right so that just he would have collided, the Treecko ducked underneath his body, attempting to Pound him with his tail from underneath.

However, Vage seemed prepared for that.

Leif felt three strong hands grab his thick tail. Vage then rolled in mid-air, letting go of the Treecko's tail and sending him flying. Leif crashed into the ground, getting up and rubbing his back in pain. He sighed at himself

 _Guess I shouldn't have tried Vage's trick on him._ He thought.

"Nice try," the Ledian said. "For a second I couldn't believe you'd even attempted that. You lack strength for sure but you put effort in. That's something at least."

Leif smiled back at him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Leela's blue form land on the edge of the mountain cliff. She walked up to Vage, dropping a pale green fruit in front of him. He gave her a slight leer.

"Only one?" he asked. "I'd think you wouldn't want to share a Sitrus fruit with me after that time-"

"Listen, Vage!" the Swellow said. "On my way back from the orchard I took the long way, hoping I may get a quick glimpse of that Wurmple web we saw today? Well, guess what? Almost all that silk has been torn down!"

"What?" Vage asked.

"The Wurmple's web's been taken down as though it's been slashed!" Leela said. "You think another group's moved in?"

"No doubt," Vage said. "Damn, this forest. Newcomers are moving in so quickly there's not much space to put them. Infighting in this damn place is becoming a hassle. You think we should go talk to whoever owns that grave tonight?"

"No," Leela said. "I think it'd be smart to confront them tomorrow. Right now after what most likely has been a bloody fight tensions are still high. Either side is likely to attack us out of spite or heat of battle. We'll arrive in the morning though, before anyone has the chance to do anymore fighting."

"Alright," Vage sighed.

Leif smile up at the Ledian.

"Hey, Vage," Leif said. "Do you guys have extra room and food?"

"Sure," Vage said. "Why?"

"I'd like to stay," Leif said. "And continue training!"

Vage chuckled.

"Come on kid," he replied. "Don't you have a home to go to? Can't be all that far away. We found you off in the woods, didn't we?"

"Besides," Leela said. "What about your family? Don't you have one? Anyone close at least?"

Leif shrugged.

"Those bruises you found me with weren't from predators," Leif said. "They were from other Treecko."

Vage gasped while Leela shook her head.

 _Damn._ He thought to himself. _And here I thought I wouldn't tell. Why…why do I have to be so stupid?_

"No," she cried. "Was it punishment?"

Leif sighed, looking over to the side so neither of them could see his mix of dejection, embarrassment and self-pity.

"Sort of," Leif said. "You see, us Treecko are a weird bunch. We…we have value solitude…but also kinsmanship. As the proclaimed guardians of the forest we each choose a tree to guard for as long as we live and make it our home. We spend most of our lives in isolation with ourselves, believing it our duty to never leave it as long as we live. However, we have this thing where we're always supposed to be around and group up with other Treecko. Meetings are common between us. However, you only get to be real member of the group when you prove your competence in battle. And…I never did. That's why I want to be trained…so I'm no longer an embarrassment to my family, especially my older brother."

There was a pregnant silence for that moment, almost as if there was a readying of a response that never came. Then Vage shrugged.

"Fair enough!" he exclaimed. "But if you train with us, you'll have to fight with us to!"

Vage raised one arm with another fist at his heart, his knee raised.

"As the third member of the Team Black Star Mystery Dungeon!" he yelled. "Uphold, JUSTICE!"

A moment of silence came after Vage's statement. Then Leela sighed.

"Just full of hot air, ain't ya?" she asked. "Just have to ruin the moment?"

"What's a Black Team whatever?" Leif asked.

"That's our Team name!" Vage yelled. "Team Black Star!"

"And what's a Mystery…Dungeon?" Leif asked.

Vage chuckled.

"Not very well known, now is it?" Vage replied. "Well, tell you tomorrow…"

He yawned loudly.

"I have to go to bed," he said. "Coming, Leela?"

"Thought you'd never ask," she said as Leif followed down the slope.

{}

Leif waited at the edge of the entrance, patting his foot against the ground in agony, hoping they would arrive soon. The Treecko had grown lonely and anxious.

 _They said they wouldn't be long._ He thought to himself. _Where are they? They left at morning and it's the afternoon. They said they wouldn't take me because of the danger involved…I…I can't imagine anything bad happening to them. Nothing bad could have happened…right?_

Leif sat down again, moaning to himself just as he heard a pair of large wings flap right outside the cave. He peaked through the vines to see a Ledian and Swellow walking toward the cave, both disappointed. The Treecko had to resist the urge to jump in joy when he saw them enter unharmed.

"How'd it go?" Leif asked.

"Well," the Swellow said. "The good news is that the Wurmple were indeed driven out and the Pokemon that now invaded that Pikachu's land is far less numerous. The bad news though…um…well it's-"

"These new Pokemon are some Sandshrew that had come in," Vage said. "They seem to be a mix of desperate refugees and hot-headed…um, well, knuckleheads is how you could best describe it."

"They won't leave and we may have to force them out," the Swellow sighed. "Kind of a rough break."

"Wouldn't that be bad?" Leif asked. "They don't seem bad…just like they want somewhere to live."

"Kind of the problem," Vage replied. "These Sandshrew trying to grab up the best land for themselves which happens to be in the immediate vicinity of a large river and fruit trees. I feel bad because they've been pushed around and part of their group has been killed by Generationals…but…"

"They're selfish to do this," Leela said. "We'll try negotiating with them a few more days and see where that gets us. Hopefully better than what happened today."

"If they threaten to kill us again we'll have to push them out by force," Vage said. "There's no other option."

"I agree," the Swellow said. "So…Leif, you didn't go outside the hideout did you? We told you as long as you stay here you have to help keep this place conspicuous."

Leif nodded.

"Can we do a bit more training now?" Leif asked. "I've been itching for a battle all day."

They both smiled.

"You know," Leela said. "I almost think we're rubbing off on him."

"Yeah," Vage said. "Pretty crazy. Yeah, sure, I'll take you on again."

{}

Leif staggered back down the slope holding his midriff in exhaustion and pain. He felt a bit woozy, as though he were trying to stay upright.

"Are you okay, Leif?" Leela asked.

"Just fine," he replied. "It isn't as bad as it looks."

The three of them dropped down to the ground, in front of the vines where their hideout was hidden.

"Vage," Leela said. "I don't think you should have gone that hard on him. Look at him, are you sure you couldn't have gone easier on the kid?"

"He asked for me to teach him," Vage explained. "I showed him the footwork of how to fight and then we sparred pretty hard. It's nothing a good night's sleep won't fix."

"Don't push yourself too hard," the Swellow said. "Knowing your limitations is what makes a Pokemon a good soldier, no matter their cause."

"But, I have a lot at stake if I want to go back to the rest of the Treecko," Leif replied.

"I know that," Leela said. "Just…try to stay in one piece, got it?"

They retired into the room as Leela lifted the vines for them. Vage sat in the small wooden chair while Leela curled up in a nest made of twigs and leaves that was in the corner of the tunnel. Leif leaned against the cave wall before sitting down in the dirt floor. When he saw the Ledian and Swellow content with not talking to him he withdrew into his thoughts.

 _I'll never be able to go back and rejoin them if I don't try._ Leif said. _I'll be a laughing stock if my brother sees me humiliated again. I…I don't want to embarrass him or anyone._

Leif glared at the ground, as though it were himself.

 _Why are some born weak?_ He thought to himself. _Why are there runts that have to be a burden to others? There's no place for that in the wild. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm a weight Vage and Leela have to bear because they're kind enough to see the potential in everyone. I guess that's the purpose of kindness, to take pity on the weak._

Leif shook his head. Vage wouldn't admit to or say that, he would simply say that kindness is something everyone should have, that generosity was beneficial. But Leif had seen from experience that the useless and weak died and they were parasites to those around them. Was that kindness, to risk the lives of those runts at the cost of everyone else?

 _No._ He thought. _No it wasn't._

Leif stood up, walking up to the vine covering the entrance to the cave.

"May I leave?" he asked. "It won't be long."

"Don't stray off too far," Vage answered. "Especially not too deep into the forest."

Leif nodded before jumping through the vines. He walked up the slope he and Vage had trained at. The Treecko found himself a decent-sized boulder before hitting with a whirl of his tail. He almost fell to the ground, the surprise pain shocking him. He lifted the end of his tail, looking at the bruise at the end of it. He sighed a little but his face elated as found he'd made a crack on the surface of the rock.

 _Perfect._ He thought to himself. _Now all I got to do is just a hundred more times._

Leif continued smacking his thick tail into boulder, trying his best to ignore the pain. As bad as it hurt and as exhausting as it felt, he felt like it was giving him a good workout. He felt invigorated before about half an hour later he dropped against the ground, panting heavily.

 _I have to grow stronger._ He thought. _If I don't, I will become a burden to them, just as I was to my brethren. Quit being weak._

Leif stood back up, his legs a bit wobbly, hanging his head as he pressed his palm against the cracked surface of the rock. He panted trying to catch his breath when he felt a strange feeling from his palm. Leif tried to pull away but felt stuck. He pulled harder before hearing, and feeling something, tear.

Leif looked at his palm to see small hairs of tendrils, like that you'd see from the underside of an ivy plants' vine. He then looked closer, inspecting the rock carefully. He saw the small, brown tendrils he'd torn off inside the small cracks, much to his amazement.

The Treecko quickly put palm to the cracks again, pushing into his hand. Leif felt a strange growing sensation come from his palm, feeling tendrils adhere to the rough surface of the rock. He also felt him absorbing small grain through them.

 _My…my first Grass-type move._ Leif though in awe. _I've finally done it. I'm…I'm amazing._

Leif retracted the tendrils, looking down at his hand with an elated smile.


	13. Chapter 14

Leif whacked the Wurmple aside, sending it flying two feet in the air before crashing back into the grass. The Treecko gave the Bug-type a coy smile as he picked out the stray barb it had left in his skin. He winced slightly as he tightened his digits on the sharp thing to dig it out.

 _Never did like the feeling of a Poison Sting._ He thought. _Tended to avoid Pokemon I knew had them._

Then he smiled.

 _Until now, that is._

Leif turned and leaped forward, bounding back to the cave as he ran past the bare ground of the top of the rock slab and slid down the slope to arrive in front of the vine dressed cave. He walked in, a great big smile on his face. Leif walked over to the bag where Leela and Vage had kept the berries, fishing out a Pecha berry to bite into. The Treecko licked up the juices from his mouth.

"Mmm," he savored.

Whatever poison he had surely was gone when he finished the fruit, core and all. He sat down at Vage's usual chair, relishing his past victory. All week he'd been doing only one thing: training. During the morning it was sparing with Vage, the late afternoons and nights he'd spent repetitive exercises like hitting his tail against the rock, running as fast as he could, and other such pursuits.

Recently he'd taken to picking fights with Pokemon he found in the woods. Normally he'd be quite adverse to this as he was afraid of being too hurt. However, seeing as how Leif had a near infinite supply of fruit as Leela brought them in from every routine trip, he had almost no need to worry so long as his fights were sparse and with small Pokemon. He'd fought a Teddiursa, a few Wurmple, a Furret, a couple Pidgey, Leif was on a roll. And the best part is, once he'd found an opponent who was stronger, usually he didn't have far to run because once he was over that slope most never really cared to pursue long after that. He smiled at himself for his guile before hearing a flap of wings.

The Treecko jumped up in exuberance, excited at the arrival of his friends. Leif leaned against the cave wall, acting as though he was restless to hear the latest bit of information when, in reality, he was tired from all the training and fighting he'd done that day. He watched as Leela and Vage stepped into the hideout, both looking cross and very frustrated. Leif had never seen Vage so mad before.

"What happened?" Leif asked. "Did something go wrong?"

"Yeah," Leela said tersely. " _A lot_. The Sandshrew absolutely refuse to cooperate, going so far as to say they'd fight us if we ever plan on appearing at their new territory again."

"This is the third meeting we've had with them," Vage said. "And this still refuse to share this land with anyone. It's no longer only that Pikachu that's having a problem with them…it's everyone. They Pokemon being forced out are also too afraid to fight and just moving to new territory in the woods-"

"Which is only going to accentuate the problem," Leela finished. "I know the Newcomers have had a problem finding new land and face being heavily hated by the Generationals, but I'll be damned if they have the right to just go and steal territory by force that way. It's not fair to anyone!"

The Swellow turned to Vage almost glaring in frustration.

"You think we're going have to push them out by force?" the Swellow asked. "I sure as hell don't want to go and do that but…"

Vage shook his head.

"Our hands are tied and if we don't act _immediately_ it make us look like pushovers to the denizens of this forest for the worst," Vage said. "We'd lose the threat of intimidation and authority among Pokemon that comes with being a part of a Mystery Dungeon guild. We've given the Sandshrew too many opportunities and we don't act quickly, say the first thing tomorrow, it could potentially be bad for the Pokemon here."

Leif walked up to the Ledian.

"Might I make a suggestion?" the Treecko said.

"Sure," Leela replied.

"If there are only two of you then the Sandshrew might think that they have you beat," Leif said. "However, you've told me before there are other Mystery Dungeon teams you could contact if you wanted to."

"Kay," the Ledian said.

"So why don't you contact them and bring in reinforcements?" Leif replied. "I mean, depending on who you know, wouldn't the size alone be enough to make those Sandshrew back down?"

Vage and Leela looked at each other, now with expressions of disappointment and passive resentment than frustration. They looked back at him somewhat saddened.

"What?" the Treecko replied to the looks.

"You see, Leif," Vage said. "It's not that the Mystery Dungeon teams are apathetic but…well its complicated. To put it into perspective, it's not all of them that do this kind of work."

"What…what do you mean?" Leif asked.

Leela sighed.

"Leif, you know what all this infighting in the forest is caused by, right?" Leela replied.

Leif nodded.

"Humans."

He'd been told countless times by his brethren Treecko that was what they were fighting against and had to defend their forest from. While most Pokemon attacked any humans that entered the forest, it was the Treecko that most viciously struck at the species as eagerly and hard as they did. As Leif had been told, humans expanding their cities and urban residences was what caused the shrinkage of lands and territories for Pokemon, so it was only fair for Pokemon to fight back to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.

However, Leela shook her head.

"Not entirely."

Leif looked up at her, shocked that she'd dare suggest such a thing. At first he was angry, before he remembered how violently his brethren Treecko defended the woods. He'd seen them attempt to slaughter human mothers and their children when he went to watch with his brother (not fighting of course). He remembered how radical they were and found no reason to entirely trust their judgement. In fact, it sounded more likely they exaggerated the truth.

Leif bowed his head toward her, almost out of respect and humiliation that he'd almost said something like that.

"What were you about to say?" the Treecko asked.

"I was about to say that at first it was caused by Newcomers moving in at such a great quantity," Leela said. "Many Pokemon, especially from the Hoenn and Johto regions, left their native land to come to Kanto. Those two regions had been experiencing intense famine and the land had been ravaged. Humans, using their technology, made it out somewhat better but Pokemon left in droves, coming here instead by whatever means they could."

Leif sighed. He knew that his kind were originally from a faraway continent, but seeing as how his brother and he were the third generation to be born in these woods, it was common to refer to them as "Generationals".

"They came in almost unanimous peace," Leela said. "Simply seeking food. However, at the great quantity Pokemon were coming in at, there wasn't enough food or space for all of them. You'll have to understand there was a great big war that led to so much bloodshed over it…it hurt everyone. You can understand how the humans felt. They hated the overcrowding and wars within the wild amongst Pokemon so they themselves sought to kill the excess population and expand the borders of their cities in compensation. This led to a war between humans and Pokemon that to this day has not ended, on top of the conflict between Newcomers and Generationals that's not as bad but still present."

Leif recoiled at her words, shocked at such information.

"I…I never would guessed," he said. "I…I thought…"

"Humans were evil?" Vage said. "Yeah…we get that a lot. The thing is that it's very complicated when discussing these issues with the Mystery Dungeon HQ."

"What do they care?" Leif asked. "I thought they were supposed to help Pokemon."

"They are," Leela said. "Within their boundaries. You see, whenever conflict arises like this where humans are greatly involved with the affairs of Pokemon, like they are now, the Mystery Dungeon teams are very hesitant to get involved. Whenever there are wars between humans that bleed into the world of Pokemon, or the inverse, it causes their fates to be intertwined. Mystery Dungeons Guilds usually only work in purely Pokemon controlled territory while territory too close to human civilization is a divisive subject for Guilds. For the longest time, depending on who was running it, there were usually two extremes. Either don't help Pokemon dealing with human-related issues or deal with it as much as possible."

"Go on," Leif replied.

"It got everyone really fired up," Vage replied. "Many Mystery Dungeon teams with prejudices against humans didn't want to bother dealing closely them. Some honestly thought that dealing with this would expand the forces of the Mystery Dungeon Guilds far too thin to do anything with Mystery Dungeons and other more Pokemon related matters. Some saw it as their duty, though, to help Pokemo in their time of need. Like us. We don't mind getting into Pokemon-human related issues, like ones that plague this forest. The current administration at HQ says any team that wants to help Pokemon dealing with land far closer to human can do so and those that don't won't have to."

"Trust us," Leela said. "We have tried contacting Mystery Dungeon operatives. But many simply do not want to in this particular area. We're on our own for the most part."

Leif looked down, almost frowning at what sounded, for the most part, like bad news.

"What about me?" he asked. "Couldn't I come along to help?"

Vage raised a skeptical eye.

"Come on!" Leif yelled. "I've been training for a week now! I could certainly help! I could if you gave me the chance."

Vage sighed.

"Fine," he said. "We'll take you tomorrow. However, so long as we do, you're going to be right by our side and do e _xactly_ as we say. _Got it_?"

Leif nodded.

{}

Leif clung to the Swellow's blue wings, the wind around him rushing in a mad frenzy, trying to kick him off the Flying Pokemon's back. She shot down rapidly, as Leela and Vage seemed to nosedive before gently hovering down. They landed in a grove with large fruit orchards, the trunks of the trees thick with age. Leif respected the trees here, seeing as how they had given back to those around them.

 _If only I could do the same._ He thought.

Leif looked around to see that there were large holes in the soil and Sandshrew were quick to poke their heads out of the ground, their beady eyes restless and quick to anger.

"I thought," a Sandslash started as he crawled out of a hole, a horde of Sandshrew behind him. "We said we would never hesitate to fight the two of you if you came back here."

"And we told you we would be forced to use violence if you did not leave after the last time we asked to leave this Pikachu's land," Vage said. "He has been careful to share it with everybody, Newcomers and Generationals alike, and you have done nothing to help cooperate, taking by what does not belong to you."

"You dense, ignorant tool!" the Sandslash said. "I and my family have been pushed around ever since we came across the great mountains, losing more than half our numbers! Only to be crushed and demoralized whenever we seek shelter and food! I come not to bow to another's fragile will so we can be pushed into a new territory where the same will happen again! We discussed this!"

"You're making it worse for every other Newcomer!" Leela said as he struck a pose. "For in the sake of JUSTICE in this LAWLESS, MAD, UNRLENTING world, there will always be HOPE! For whoever calls upon salvation from evil, if we are near, shall know the POWER, the MAJESTY, the GRACE and the TRIUMPH that I and my comrades can provide! GREATEST, most SUPERB, FORCE of UNWILTING MAGNITUDE of RIGHTEOUSNESS! Evil SHUTTERS at the mere SYLLABLE of even part of our team name! AND as LEADER of such a close-knit group of FREEDOM fighters it is my DUTY, HONOR, and PRIVELAGE to INFORM YOU THAT. THAT. IS. US! Now, prepare to feel the wrath of-!"

Vage then pointed at the Sandslash as best he could as he had no digits.

"TEAM! BLACK! STAR!"

The Sandshrew just stared at the Ledian, half-confused and disoriented as their gaze was half-blank at him. Their leader Sandslash especially looked confused, as though he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Wow…that…I…" he stuttered.

"That was awful," one Sandshrew remarked.

"POW EVIL DOER!"

The Sandslash had no time to see Vage had already zipped over to punch him in the gullet, sending him skidding into the ground.

"Sand-Attack!" the Sandslash cried as he stood up.

The Sandshrew immediately started digging up loose topsoil, turning it into fine grain as they patted and scratched it with their claws. The launched the stuff in powdery clouds at the three of them. Leela blew the fine earth away with a strong flap of her wings, only for the Sandslash to come crashing through the thick cloud of dust to slash at Vage. The Ledian expertly dodged the Ground-type's attempts to cut him, side-stepping before firing punches into his exposed underbelly that sent him flying back.

"AWFUL?!" Vage asked as he repeatedly pounded the much large Ground-type. "I will have you know I came up all day preparing that introduction speech and you uncultured barbarians have the gall to call it AWFUL?!"

Vage sent the Sandslash skidding into the ground again with a blow to the head.

"You Sandshrew really are irredeemable!" he said. "To hell with formalities! No one makes fun of my righteous speeches and gets away with it!"

Leela smacked the Sandshrew around with here wings, knocking them into trees where many scurried away back in their holes. They began ganging up on Leela, jumping out of holes to attempt to scratch her with their claws. Leela flew up to avoid the attacks launched from the underground, preventing her from attacking.

Leif rushed in at a Sandshrew that had popped in at mid-air, slamming it down with his tail. Leif landed on his feet, watching as the Ground-types attempted to attack. The Treecko tried his best to dodge but soon found himself overwhelmed by their numbers. He slammed one out of the way before using Quick Attack to evade them and tackle one again, slamming it into the ground. As two more came running up to him, Leif grew the tendrils from his palms. He pushed the root-like structures into their bodies, instantly absorbing blood and nutrients as he did so from their systems. They plopped flat to the ground before Leif charged at another Sandshrew, only to see it disappear into another hole.

Leif calmed himself, feeling with his legs the motions and vibrations underneath his feet. He felt a great rumbling before the ground exploded beneath him and he was uppercut by the tip of a Sandshrew's claw. Treecko fell back as blood dripped from his chin as he rubbed it, smearing blood across his palm.

Leif felt another rumbling underneath his feet but this time he was prepared. Leif jumped as high as he could just as the ground beneath him exploded into clumps of dirt. Leif looked up to see he'd passed a low hanging branch right above him. He quickly clung to the branch as he fell back down, observing the Sandshrew from above. Leif quickly shot down from the tree in an instant, gathering momentum as bounced quickly before ramming into a Sandshrew at high speed and it was slammed into a tree by the force of the blow.

And Sandshrew attempted to scratch at Leif but swept its legs from under him with a swipe of his tail and then a second sent Pound from his tail sent him flying.

Leif looked to see that Leela was doing well in the fight as she looked almost bored with easily a blow from her wings could KO a Sandshrew. Unconscious Ground-types seemed to be piling around her as she merely flexed her wings and another one plopped down defeated.

Vage, on the other hand, was having the time of his life with the leader Sandslash.

"No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!" the Sandslash cried as was flung up into the air by one of Vage's punches. Then, just as he was falling back down to Earth, he saw Vage was flying up towards him, "NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!-N-PU-AGH!"

Vage had impaled the Ground-type on his fist, carrying him upwards as he ascended.

"FOOOOORRRRR JUSTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!" he cried.

The Sandslash flew off into the distance, making a perfect arc flight pattern as he did, wood and leaves crashing loudly in the distance could be heard as he disappeared.

Vage then landed on the ground, his fists at his hips to strike another pose.

"Your leader has fallen!" the Ledian said. "Do you surrender or shall we continue this pointless endeavor further?"

"Never!" a Sandshrew said. "Revenge for Cladian!"

Three of the remaining Sandshrew curled into balls, charging at them by rolling at them. Leif ran at a Sandshrew he targeted, the tendrils in both his palms growing immediately. He put one of his palms against the solid surface of its outer layer, stopping the Sandshrew in its tracks as soon as the tendrils hooked into its surface. He then started draining it of energy and, within a moment, the Sandshrew uncurled and lay on the ground, sapped of energy.

Vage and Leela then jumped onto the other two, riding them like wheels.

"I do believe we try this every time a Pokemon uses Rollout out, do we not, Leela?" he asked.

"Oh yes, quite," Leela responded. "Good for the blood flow if I do say so myself."

They then crashed the Sandshrews into trees. They then used their respective wings to hover back down to Earth, staring at the remaining Sandshrew. The remaining Ground-types not beaten into unconsciousness sighed.

"We give up," one said.

"No use in fighting anymore," another retorted.

"Well," Vage said. "If you want us to we can probably help you find a new territory to occupy."

"If you would that would be nice," he said. "I didn't want to take away land from other Pokemon…we just wanted to obey Cladian's orders because we had nowhere else to go."

"Don't worry," Leela said. "All forgiven."

{}

The Sandshrew waved goodbye from their location at the bank of the river as Leela and Vage flew off into the distance with Leif on their back.

"You did a good job out there Leif," Vage said. "I'm surprised you fought as well as you did. I know I've been training with you a hell of a lot but wow. Weakest in your former herd my ass."

Leif almost blushed, a kind of warmth in him gradually rising he'd never felt before.

"So," Leif said. "What's next?"

"I think we're going to take a rest soon," Leela said. "After we take a break we'll patrol the forest and be on the lookout if we can stop more land disputes. That territory we let the Sandshrew occupy should be far away enough for away enough so that any Pokemon they fought in the past shouldn't run into them very often."

Leif frowned a bit.

"But you told them the truth that it's a good area for them to live, right?" the Treecko asked.

"Not really," the Ledian replied as he flew beside Leela rather slowly. "The truth is that place near the river is nowhere near as good of land as that which they took control of. By the time they learn it, it'll be too late. It's got a lot of problems, like being near potential predators and there isn't much in the way of accessible food near there."

Leif gasped, his mouth ajar.

"What…then why did you bring them there?" he asked in response.

"Because it was the best we could do," Leela said. "We try to help others out as much as we can but there's really very little we can do. All we can do is hope they aren't kicked out of there either."

Leif felt like he could cry.

"I'm beat," Leela said. "Couldn't we just stop for a little while to recover?"

"Oh, hey, it's almost twelve!" Vage said as he looked down at his watch. "I think…we can stop for an hour to gather our strength."

"Oh!" Leela said. "Okay!"

She and Vage swooped down as they neared the urban part of human civilization.

Leela and Vage plummeted down to a fence bordering a small house, hovering over it before land on the side. Leif jumped off Leela as he landed on top of the picket fence.

"What are we doing here?" Leif asked.

Through the window Leif could see a human child sitting in front of…some box that flashed images of what Leif could only make out to be odd, alien shapes on it.

"What…what are we doing here?" Leif asked.

"Oh," Leela said. "We usually come here when we need to rest for a while. Around this time it usually shows our favorite program, Dragon Ball Z."

"What's that?" Leif said.

"The greatest television program humans have ever made," Vage replied. "Right after Trigun, Yu Yu Hakusho, Danny Phantom, Dexter's Lab, the Powerpuff Girls…"

And he incessantly went on listing the various things called "television programs" that Leif had no idea of what they were in any shape or form. Only that Vage was probably a very strange person for knowing them.

"…Scooby-Doo and every season Super Sentai," he finally finished.

"I don't like any of those," Leela replied. "Star Trek, Malcom in the Middle, Survivor, Steven Universe-"

"Please," Leif said. "Don't mention those again. It greater annoys me. But what are those things."

"From the information we've gathered," Leela said. "Apparently during the day and age human society was "rebuilding" so they call it, humans found a lot of lost technology, most likely from the previous era long ago they know very little about. They found these tapes and videos and re watch them for both entertainment and to figure what kind of world it was like before they were rebuilding. They say it's a way to recapture their culture and voice before human civilization was apparently all lost."

"All lost?" Leif asked. "How…what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you see…," Leela started.

Then Leif heard a loud explision. He whirled, trying to make out the noise.

"What was that?!" he asked.

"That's Dragon Ball Z!" Vage said. "Resurrection of F! The first fight is already starting"

Leela and Vage hopped down to the grass beneath with Leif following behind. They walked up to the transparent window. The human boy saw them and waved where Vage and Leela waved back before the "program" started.

{}

"That was amazing!" Vage yelled as he flew next to Leela. "I can't believe Vegeta-"

"I saw the exact same movie," Leela said. "You don't have to explain the awesomeness of it. I was there."

"Oh come on!" he yelled back. "Why won't you let me express how much I loved it?!"

"Because whenever you _start_ talking about something you liked that you watched you don't _stop_ ," she answered. "I'm just saving you some embarrassment and me some energy."

"Bleh!" he said. "Shows what you know! I have control! So Leif, what'd you think about Resurrection of F?"

"I thought it was okay," Leif said. "Just...does that stuff influence you to be, you know, heroic? Because you talk like some of those characters in that…program."

"What? Oh, of course!" Vage replied. "Those people I see on TV almost every day make me…make me feel like I can be a hero if they can! I take their philosophies to heart and do my best to emulate them whenever I can! Son Goku, Vash, Kuwabara, and Jason from Mighty Morphers…I know they may not be real, but I know that if I impersonate their words in my heart, then they'll be as real as they could ever be!"

Leif leaned forward a bit as he asked Leela the same question.

"What about you? Do you think like that?"

Leela shrugged before nodding.

"I get what Vage sees in those characters," she replied. "I guess that, being born in a dying forest where every Pokemon wanted to kill each other for food and territory and Pokemon end up dying of dehydration due to humans diverting water back to their own residences…makes you want to help the world. So yeah, being a hero is great. Coming from such a harsh environment where everyone's got exactly no morals to them and it's eat or be eaten…yeah a heroic do-gooder is what I want to be."

Leif smiled at that. Leela's past kind of reminded him of his own. Although his home wasn't exactly rock bottom, he still got beaten down by everyone around him. Anyone he tried to make friends with was fairly callous towards him. He never thought about being anything greater because he never saw himself as such.

 _A hero._ He thought. _I…I can be a hero to if she can be._

Leela and Vage quickly nosedived near the edge of the woods, landing on the leafy forest floor.

"Alright," Vage said. "We need to patrol the woods to see if we can find any more feuding Pokemon or anything else we can help with. Leif, I know this may put you into potential danger but do you think you can scout out on your own?"

Leif nodded and Vage smiled back as a result.

"If anything happens," he said as he opened his back to let his transparent wings were out and hovering in the air. "Run towards where we are. We won't be far away. And, whatever you do, don't stay and fight. Run to us."

The Ledian disappeared into the green while Leela disappeared off in the other direction. Feeling at home, Leif jumped onto the nearest branch, immediately jumping to the next limb. Not only did he feel comfortable with his environment, he also felt better than ever. All that training Leif had done had paid off better than he expected, causing his reflexes and speed to make zoom through the canopy of the forest.

 _I've never been happier._ Leif thought.

Suddenly, below him, Leif saw something that immediately sent a chill of fear in him. He stopped in his tracks, peeking below to see a group of four humans, all in familiar camouflage uniforms. The human captured Pokemon, which consisted mostly of vastly different Pokemon including a Pidgeotto, Corphish, and Machop were battling against a group of Oddish and Weepinbell, ordering their Pokemon to attack with no letup.

 _Humans._ Leif thought.

He fell back onto the branch, lying down in panicked fear.

 _They…they've come._ He thought before hatred started running through him. _Humans…I hate them all! They come into our woods planning to destroy it! They…they have no regard for what they do! No understanding, no remorse! They're savages! All of them!_

Leif saw Pokemon beside them, presumably captured in those devices humans carried around with them that hung from their waists. Leif shook his head in anger as he ran back toward Vage, racing as fast as he could until he found him hovering near a tree.

"Vage!" Leif said. "Humans! The kind that wear uniforms!"

"The ones that kill Pokemon on human contact?" Vage asked.

"They're doing it right now!" Leif said.

Vage glared in frustration.

"Lead me there!" Vage said.

Leif led him to where the brawl was taking place, with Leif now noticing two dead humans slumped over tree trunks and slain Pokemon on both sides of the battlefield.

"Leif!" Vage said. "You got get Leela! I'll handle this!"

And with that Vage jumped in to the fight before Leif ran off to go get Leela, in the direction he last saw her leave in. He finally caught up with her, seeing her soar right beneath the canopy of the leaves. As he dashed across the branches she spoke to him.

"What is it Leif?!" she asked. "Trouble already?"

"Yeah!" he replied. "There is! I'll take you to where I saw those humans in uniform killing Pokemon they'd passed by!"

"What?!" Leela asked as she slowed her flight. "Let's go!"

Leif stopped before turning around, leading the Swellow to where he last saw Vage charging at the human trainers. Leif couldn't find the place where Vage last left him before he heard a loud crashes and screams to the right.

"There they are!" Leif said.

Leela and Leif looked around to witness the battle before them, with Vage beating back a Machop and Vigoroth at the same time as the wilds were managing to actually push back against the human's Pokemon.

The Treecko and Swellow both jumped to the ground, with the Swellow Quick Attacking an airborne Pidgeotto while Leif did the same to a human captured Butterfree. He slammed the thing into the ground before landing on his feet.

The weakened Bug-type attempted to lift itself back into the air with its fairly large wings but Leif jumped up to smack it back down with his tail. Leif narrowly dodged a Bubblebeam he saw coming out of the corner of his eye, running up to the Corphish that had launched the attack as he Absorbed it, withering its hard outer shell before falling over.

Leif turned around to see Vage had sent the Machop crashing into a tree while he blew the Vigoroth he'd been fighting backward with a Silver Wind. The Vigoroth attempted to stand back up but Leela shot down from above to Peck it square in the forehead, causing it to collapse on its back. Leela flapped her wings as she turned to Vage to talk to him.

"We need to get these wounded Pokemon out of here!" she said. "Some of them have taken serious injury!"

"Leela!" Vage replied. "You're faster than me! Go take them to the nearest orchard where they can find some Oran fruit or something! Take the more serious ones back to the hideout! Leif and I will deal with it here!"

"Kay!" she replied before turning back.

Vage and Leif looked over the remaining combatants, seeing a Cubone, an Ekans remaining. Their trainers ordered them to attack but were taken down quickly by the two of them. Vage rammed into the Ekan's throat with a Quick Attack before sending him flying with a strong Bullet Punch while Leif continued dodging everyone of Cubone's Bone Club attacks. He ducked and sidestepped every near-hit before letting his tendrils loose on the Ground-type and sucking its energy as the surface of his skin withered before collapsing.

Leif and Vage walked up to the trainers who stood cowering in fear of them. One picked up a rock to throw at Vage before he whipped out his wings and let a strong gust of wind knock the rock back as well as send the four trainers crashing to the ground. They tried to run away before Vage zoomed above their heads to hover right in front of them.

"Where are you going?" Vage asked in human language with a haughty smile. "You wouldn't leave without recalling your Pokemon to their Pokeballs now would you? Also, you're going to drop whatever medicine you can to help heal the wild Pokemon you all injured."

The trainers took out of their bags as many spray devices as they could by dropping them to the ground. They then recalled their Pokemon into their respective Pokeballs before running off. Leif walked up to Vage as he landed on the forest floor.

"Vage!" Leif exclaimed. "Are you just going to let them walk away like that?! After all they did?! They'll probably come back and do the same thing eventually!"

Vage smiled at them.

"What do you expect me to do?" he asked. "Kill them? I don't kill. And I expect for you to do the same thing."

"But…but why?" Leif asked as Vage picked up every one of the spray potions that the trainers left behind.

"Leif," he said. "What do you think of humans?"

Leif shrugged.

"I don't know," he said. "I thought they were evil…but I guess they're _not_?"

Vage chuckled.

"Humans and Pokemon, on the outside at least, are no different," Vage said. "They are just trying to survive in some of the worst possible circumstances. They've had it hard getting caught up in a survival conflict with Pokemon as they tried the only way they knew how to to survive."

"What…what do you mean?" Leif asked. "How…what does that have to do with anything? Humans…they…"

Vage smiled.

"The thing is Leif," the Ledian said. "Everyone is, deep down, a good person. They want to do what's right, they want to help their neighbor and everyone around them. Everyone strives to do what they think is right, whether that's hurting other people or helping them regardless of whether it helps them survive or not. Humans are no different, killing us because they see us as a threat because of their bad history with us."

Leif stood shocked at his words, his eyes agape and with awe.

 _This._ He thought. _This goes against everything I've ever been taught he said. I…never…how could anyone think this way? But…is what Vage says true?_

"Since they're good and just trying to stay alive," he continued. "It's not really their own fault that anyone commits evil deeds. People are usually so warped by the presence of the environment around them, which is usually harsh in my experience, that what they need to do to survive is hurt others and stay ahead by any means possible, that they forget their real selves."

Leif shook his head.

"They forget who they are inside," Vage said. "Deep down just good people lost trying to stay alive and be happy. But in order to do that they have to conform to the world we live in, which is a dark and terrible one that forces us all to survive by eating each other. You don't think that predators eat because they're evil do you? They eat because they're hungry, and that's the best way to get food. I've seen that when a person's survival is not on the line that Pokemon and human alike will give to others out of the goodness of their hearts."

Leif's mind was shaking right now, the very foundation of what it was built on top of for his entire life screaming out that Vage was wrong. But…for some reason…he wanted to believe the Ledian. He wanted to believe he was right. He, he sort of knew what he was saying.

"This world's nature is cruel Leif," he said. "I want you to know that. Remember that, whenever you're thinking of ending someone's life, remember that it's nothing personal and they're not out to get you. They're just scared and manipulated by what's around them into doing what is wrong."

And Leif stood there, flabbergasted at Vage's words as the Bug-type flew away toward where he had sent Leela to, too confused to speak. He'd never heard a Pokemon say such words, shocked that a Pokemon could possibly think that a _human_ of all species was understandable and relatable. And yet, part Leif wanted to agree with him.

 _If he's right._ He thought. _Then maybe there's hope after all. For all of us…or just Pokemon?_

And while Leif asked that question, he stopped himself, deciding it didn't matter.


	14. Chapter 15

Leela carried the happy Treecko on her back as she sailed through the air, with Vage right beside. Leif kept rubbing what was around his neck, almost sensually feeling the garment. The black scarf around his neck made him feel proud, an uplifting kind of pride that came from the total opposite of arrogance. With his brethren Treecko, they'd always made him feel like being a guardian of the forest's trees was something brought by birthright to assert and push in life rather than a sense of accomplishment that came from hard work and a sign of value.

Here, Leif felt so amazed at himself he'd accomplished this that, he couldn't help but know he had value. The fact he was riding on a Swellow that in the wild would most likely be trying to catch him to eat and a Ledian flying beside that would probably have stayed in a completely different territory for most of his life and never known him was his friend.

"Leif," Leela said. "You should feel honored that you get to wear that. A Mystery Dungeon Guild doesn't often give those things out. You earned it and now you are an official a Mystery Dungeon operative. You should be ecstatic!"

Leif felt that rise of pride become even stronger, euphoria of victory rush over him. He tried so hard to quell it but it became too much.

It had taken the three of them three days, two to fly to the HQ and one to fly back. Vage, once he was convinced Leif was ready to be an official operative asked him if he would like to be made an official member, to which Leif made no objections. The way Vage had smiled down at him when he asked, it made Leif's whole body shiver with excitement.

"I know!" he said. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it?! I mean…I can't think of anything better! But honestly, I'd be lost without you guys! If it weren't for you showing me the ropes and training me to the point I could fight as well as I can for that month or so I'd be pretty useless right now. Plus, you guys were the ones who put in a good word for me so it's all thanks to you!"

"'Ey kid!" Vage replied. "Don't sell yourself short! You were a pretty fast learner! I think we're lucky to have you on Team Black Star! The Guild appreciated you a lot and you'll probably get to see more of them once we're done shifting missions!"

"Say what?" Leif asked.

"Yeah!" Leela interjected. "We've been patrolling these woods a while now! Usually Mystery Dungeon teams aren't patrolling guards like police man are but those of us who don't mind going into territory like that usually stay longer than we expect. A new, larger team is taking over because things are heating up with the humans."

"You better say goodbye to your home Leif," Vage replied. "It won't be more than a few days before we're packing up and heading out to our new mission."

Leif nodded to him.

"You know," Vage said. "If you wanted to you could tell goodbye to the rest of your fellow Treecko we'll see if we can find them."

Leif sighed, making his reluctance obvious.

"I…I don't know," he answered. "It's been a while since I've seen even one of my kind. I haven't seen my brother or any other Treecko the month or so I've spent with you guys so…I don't know. They may find it strange after they figured out I haven't died or not."

"You should probably go talk to them," Leela said. "Even if it feels strange at first. I know how it felt when I left and I don't remember if I never got the chance to anyone I left or I just didn't want to…but I still wish I had. Ever since there have been days when I find myself lost in thought, wondering if they ever wondered what happened to me. It…it's not that I want to tell you what to do with your life just…it helps with closure at least."

"I thought you said that your life back home was harsh?" Leif replied.

"It was," she said. "Still doesn't mean there are Pokemon I think from time to time that I miss. I miss my mother a lot, and my second oldest brother."

Leif sighed before feeling Leela take a nosedive he hung on before they landed not far from their hideout. The Ledian covered his clear wings with the back of his red exoskeleton before moving the vines out of his way and stepping inside. Leela was about to step into their cave of a hideout before the Swellow turned back to Leif to look concerned at him.

"Don't you want to come in?" Leela asked. "I mean, you deserve the rest."

"Nah," Leif replied. "I'm going to go out on patrol early."

"Why is that?" Leela asked.

"I guess I wanted to see the forest one last time," Leif said.

Leela gave him a nervous smirk before the Treecko turned and ran towards the nearest tree, jumping onto a low-hanging limb before dashing off through the forest's canopy.

 _Oh._ He thought as he leaped underneath the greenery of the trees. _Leela knows I'm taking her advice. I've got to go to my brethren…tell them I'm leaving. She knows I can't leave this place without saying goodbye to my brethren. They may be hard to find but I think I can locate where a large number of them tend to gather around this time of day._

Leif understood why the Swellow's smile had been a nervous one. She probably understood the implications of going to see family that thought you were dead for more than a month. That smirk, as though she knew something he didn't. It worried him.

Leif sighed as he stopped in his tracks, standing on a tree limb as he looked around, trying to regain his bearings.

 _Which way was it again?_ He thought. _It's been so long…I guess I'll have to remember the way my brother showed me when he took me there. Where was that again?_

Leif sighed to himself, feeling selfish.

 _Do I deserve to leave this place?_ He thought. _I mean…I was born to nothing but a bunch of Treecko that guarded a specific area of turf their whole life as though it was their divinely appointed niche. The weakest and therefore most disillusioned from it and here I am…going to tell them I'm leaving forever. Will they think I'm better than them?_ Do _I think I'm better than them?_

Leif shook his head as the more he thought about it the more he didn't want to go through with it. Once Treecko found their turf they were never supposed to leave it no matter what, their tree they called home was seen as a bond with their will to live. It was a disgrace for that tree to die or have health problems under their watch. To abandon it was unthinkable.

 _Maybe it would be best if they did think I was dead._ Leif thought. _After all…I've been gone so long they couldn't have just assumed I was lost. Being dead would be the most logical reasoning for my absence. If I never show up, I never have to face my abandonment of our way of life. I…I wish they knew what kind of nobility it is to serve other Pokemon instead of just the forest's trees._

Leif sighed as he hopped along the limbs, this time his pace slower and with far less energy. That was before he caught something out of the corner of his eye below him. Leif stopped dead in his tracks, leaning down to see three humans in black uniforms with red shapes on their breasts.

The Treecko looked down in horror as he saw dead Pokemon lying around them, their Pokemon that included multiple Houndoom and Quagsire unfazed by any apparent battle damage. Leif even saw two dead Treecko amongst the wild Pokemon that had been slain. Leif also noticed the vegetation around the humans had turned to short, singeing black stumps. As appalled as he was at the sight Leif listened in on the humans below.

While Leif did not speak human fluently Vage and Leela had taught him enough so that he could pick out key phrases and words.

"…Pokemon…came out of the blue…must report…other operatives…in surroundings…must meet up with them…"

Leif's eyes went wide.

 _Operatives?_ He thought. _There are more of these than them?_

Leif shook his head.

 _Don't get all concerned._ He told himself. _It's nothing to be worried about. Those guys in the greenish gray uniforms…there are always more of them. And we handled them fine. Now, which is faster to get to? The rest of the Treecko or Vage and Leela?_

Leif shook his head as he decided to go back to his other two Mystery Dungeon operatives. However, as Leif was hopping from branch to branch he found a herd of Treecko crossing in front of him. Leif stopped dead in his tracks before running alongside them.

"Where…where are you leaving to?" he asked.

"Uh…who are you?" the female Treecko asked as she observed the black scarf around his neck.

Upon hearing her voice, Leif recognized her as a Treecko he'd known named Llana. Leif pretended not to know here on the off-chance she wouldn't immediately recognize him. It apparently seemed to work as she never brought up she recognized him.

"Oh…just another Treecko that roams these woods," he said nervously. "Protects his own tree…name's…Leega. So anyway why are you leaving where we usually meet up?"

"Because most of our trees are on fire!" Llana said. "We're trying to gather reinforcements from the rest of our brethren Treecko and any Pokemon willing to help out!"

"Burning?" Leif asked as he ducked a low-branch before jumping to another limb. "Why is that? Is the forest on fire or something?"

"Yes!" Llana replied. "These humans are burning the forest with their Fire-type Pokemon! We need to fight back against them and find as many Flying and Water-types as we can find to put out these flames!"

Leif stopped in his tracks, looking down at himself.

 _I can get a Flying Pokemon very quickly!_ He thought.

He turned around and leaped the opposite direction of where the rest of the Treecko were headed.

"Where are you going Leega?!" Llana yelled.

"To get help!" he yelled back as he furiously rushed back to the hideout.

 _Not on my watch you won't!_ Leif yelled to himself. _Not in my last days in my home will you successfully burn_ my _forest! My fellow Treecko, this is my parting gift to you! To stop these humans before they continue any further!_

Lief dashed through the canopy, noticing more now that the Pokemon that usually lived in the canopy of the trees were very unsettled. Flying and Bug Pokemon were moving from tree to tree, either that or descending to the forest floor with a single leap. The Treecko was forest to slow down and though sighed as he saw a group of Butterfree obstructing his vision and blocking his path.

 _Guess I'll have to go around._ He thought.

Suddenly, a blast of red fireballs blew from the left, burning the Bug-types to a crisp, many of them falling down as blackened corpses. Leif watched in horror as the large Ember attacks did not let up and the tree that held the limb he stood on burst into flames after another. Leif, along with the trunk of the tree, crashed to the forest floor for him to see two humans with black uniforms with two Growlithe and two Poliwhirl at their side.

Leif stood up, giving them his best Leer as looked directly at the six of them.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he yelled in a mix of Pokemon and human. "You just killed someone who had never harmed you! You are also burning the forest in the _dry_ season! This fire will spread faster than normal you bunch of asses!"

"We know!" the Growlithe said. "Now leave or die!"

"Go get killed!" a Poliwhirl said. "We don't have time to deal with you?!"

"Why are you doing this?!" Leif yelled in human. "Why?!"

At the human's command, the Growlithe shot another Ember to which Leif dodged.

"Well," the Poliwhirl said. "If you really want to know, the forest you wilds have is interfering with our trade routes. You see, every time anyone wants to travel to the next town over all you wilds attempt to kill them without batting an eye. If we can burn this forest to the ground then no one will have any more complains by going the long way around. We can build roads that carts can ride and help our society. _That_ is why we choose to burn this forest."

Leif dodged another Ember attack before hiding beneath the shrubs the Growlithe had not yet burned.

Leif observed the six of them while hiding. As Leela had taught him, in battle one needed to observe their opponent to see where there weaknesses were. Leif tried to find an opening for an attack but couldn't seem to find any. Any tree he could climb would be too far away from them to launch an attack since the Growlithe had set on fire or burned to the ground most everything in their general direction. If Leif wanted to get close then he'd have to contend with the Growlithe's Embers that would fry him in a second as well as the Poliwhirl that carry both ranged _and_ physical attacks…

 _Wait!_ Leif thought. _Poliwhirl! If their mission is to burn down the forest then why would they be carrying Pokemon with typing that does the opposite of their mission! It's not just these two either! I saw the humans back there carrying a Quagsire!_

Leif tried to think about it, rolling it over in his mind.

 _Well._ He thought. _If what those humans said is true and they want to extend their roads then it'd be wise to carry Pokemon that could potentially put out fire before getting too close to human residences. Also, if they're surrounded by fire then Water-types are their only way to clear a path for themselves to get out alive. If their Water-types were to fall then they'd probably be less likely to set fire to the forest._

Leif smiled to himself for thinking such a good plan, before remembering human trainers trekking the woods often carry potions with them. Leif didn't see any bags being carried by the humans so he doubted they had them on hand. Leif patiently observed the Growlithe firing Embers at the forest while the two Poliwhirl stood side by side, almost as if they were asking to be taken out both at once. Leif allowed the tendrils in his palms to grow out before taking a deep breath and making sure both Growlithe were too caught up in setting fire to the forest to notice him.

Leif rushed out of the shrubbery toward the Water-types just as the Growlithe were in the middle of preparing another Ember. The Poliwhirl looked at him and blasted from their stomachs a Water Gun. However, being a Grass-type, the water felt more refreshing than painful and it did little more than slow him down. Leif planted his palms into the stomachs of both of them and, being that they were Water-types, the Absorb attack drained them of the water in their bodies easily. Leif watched as the Water-types' once plump bellies became withered and wrinkled before they collapsed.

Leif jumped backward as a Growlithe spat another fireball at him. Once the Treecko was at a safe enough distance he smiled at the two humans with a cocky grin.

"I'd be wary of setting too much else on fire," Leif said in a mix of human and Pokemon. "After all, no more Water-types to dampen a route for you if get trapped. Later."

Leif turned around before dashing away. He crashed through the blackened undergrowth, being sure to stay away from the smoke as much as possible. Once Leif got to an area where there was not much burning he jumped onto the trunk of a tree and climbed up to stand on a limb, dashing from branch to branch to reach the hideout.

He finally arrived to the vine-covered cave and dashed on in. However, when Leif looked around he saw that Vage and Leela were gone. He gritted his mouth in frustration as turned around, looking down the tree line in front of him with his keen eyes.

"Damn it," Leif said to himself. "They must have seen the smoke or fire in the distance and left before I could meet up with them."

The Treecko sighed.

 _There's no way I could know for a fact where they went._ He told himself. _How am I going to find two Pokemon that can fly? That's right. I can't. No way for me to track them by air. Well, I can't stay here._

Leif immediately rushed back into the forest again before climbing up a tree's trunk and jumping onto one of its limbs. He raced through the canopy, jumping from branch to branch as he looked around. He was beginning to detect the faint scent of smoke and burning wood but the odor felt omnipresent as well as scarce so there was no way for him to know where the burning was strongest.

It was only after a little while the Treecko had been jumping through trees to get hit by a powerful scent of smoke, like his nostrils had just ran into a wall. Then Leif ran across what appeared to be a wall of fire. The trees in front of him had gone up in large, fantastic flames. Pokemon on the forest floor that included a Squirtle, a Poliwag, and a Slowpoke were using Water Gun while in the air a Pidgeotto was beating the wildfire back with Gust.

 _Those Water-types must have come from the nearby river._ He thought. _Has the wildfire already spread so far?_

Leif dodged the wall of flames by making a hard right into the forest's trees. He looked around to see that here a few Slowpoke had started successfully part out this part of the wildfire with their Water-type attacks and were moving singing debris out of the way with Confusion.

However, just as they seemed safe, Leif saw humans in black uniforms walking up to the Slowpoke with Growlithe and Gastly at their side and Pokeballs in their hands.

"Oh no!" Leif shouted in Pokemon speech at the Slowpoke. "In front of you!"

A Gastly had already fired off a Shadow Ball at them. It had one Slowpoke as it consumed him, blackening his pink skin. Then fell to the ground, quivering and shaking as though its nerves had been damaged. Growlithe and Gastly launched balls of fire and shadow, pulverizing the pink Water-types. Just as the Slowpoke fired back with Water attacks the humans were already raising Pokeballs.

Leif jumped from the tree limb he stood on to land not far from the encirclement of the human trainers' Pokemon. He ran at the trainers as he dodged a Gastly's Shadow Ball. However, a fireball launched from a Growlithe hit the ground just beside Leif, burning his shoulder and side of his body in the resulting explosion. He landed in the blackened grass as he held his slightly burned body in pain.

Leif looked back at the trainer's to see that many had already thrown Pokeballs at the Slowpoke. Some did not appear to be captured in the artificial devices and broke free of its confinement. Others did not and lay held imprisoned within the ball's transparent material.

Leif narrowly dodged another Fire-type attack as he jumped back. The Treecko turned to run back into the woods, his heart heavy from that scene.

 _You have to stay focused._ Leif told himself. _Find Leela. Find Vage. If you get to them they can help. They can help. Just hang on..._

The plant matter behind Leif burst into flames, causing him to flee faster into the woods, trying to keep himself from holding his shoulder in pain from the burn wound he had received.

Leif finally found a part of the forest that had been clear burned and was looking at the backs of a human trainer responsible. They were using their two Growlithe and one Wooper keeping at bay a group of three Sandshrew and Oddish. However, the four wilds could not get anywhere past the Growlithe's Ember and the Wooper's Water Gun.

The Treecko took this opportunity to rush up behind the black clothed human and swept their leg with his thick tail before smashing their arm in anger with his tail, making sure he heard their bone crack. He then planted the tendrils in his palm into the back of the Wooper, draining of life just to the point of collapsing. The two Growlithe immediately turned to him and fired off Ember attacks from their mouths to which Leif somersaulted backward until he was out of range.

However, while their back was turned two Sandshrew ran up and slashed with their claws the Growlithe in the side and dug into chest. The Growlithe collapsed to the ground with the human quickly taking a shot of Acid from the Oddish, causing him to give a sickening moan of pain. Leif ran up to the Oddish.

"Why thank you," the female Oddish said. "We don't what would have happened if it-"

"Yeah, yeah I know," Leif said. "Listen, have you seen Ledian flying through here, possibly with a Swellow accompanying him?"

"I have," a Sandshrew spoke up.

"Tell me where!" Leif demanded.

The Sandshrew gave him directions to which Leif took off in a hurry. He jumped up the trunk of a tree and used the branches to leap through the forest, looking every which way he could as he tried to find the next great fire.

 _One can't be far from here._ Leif thought. _The last I saw of the humans they were setting on fire everything they could. One shouldn't be difficult to find._

Suddenly the scent of smoke hit Leif strong again and he immediately stopped on the thick tree limb, turning to the right where the waft of burning was most potent. He inched closer to the source of the strong scent and pulled back a large leaf to almost be blinded by a harsh, orange glow.

When Leif looked back he saw a group of Pokemon doing whatever they could to push back the wildfire. Swarms of Flying and Water Pokemon stood either blowing as much wind or water as they could muster at it. Leif was also shocked to see that traveling by tree were Treecko that were carrying small Water Pokemon in the arms. Granted this considerably slowed them down as they hopped from branch to branch but Leif supposed it was faster for them than walking. Also, Flying types carried Water-type Pokemon as well in their talons, gently dropping them a safe distance from the wild fire to use Water Gun on it. Leif looked closely as he could see two or three Swellow in the air using Gust on the fire but he couldn't make out if any of them wore a black scarf around their neck or not. However, Leif was able to see a large Ledian with a black garment underneath their neck. They hovered near the ground as he blew Silver Wind into the fire to which lessened the flames' impact considerably.

 _Vage!_ Leif ejected happily. _You're safe!_

Leif jumped to the ground to notice he was standing in half-burned plant foliage and the actual wall of fire was a considerable distance away. Now that he actually noticed the charred bits of wood and leaves were considerably wet and many trees were only somewhat singed and most of the trunks were intact if blackened.

 _Huh._ Leif sighed inwardly. _It seems they were doing a better job than I thought. Apparently they've been concentrating hard enough to put out this fire._

Leif watched the fire seem to die down, the flames being pushed back and growing less harsh with every attack from the Pokemon in front.

 _It's impressive they could pull this off._ He thought. _Unlike most places they seem to be beating back the fire. I've got to see if I can help Vage._

Leif ran up to the Ledian who was bending over panting as many other Pokemon were. A group of Wurmple were next to him.

"Oh…hey Leif," he said. "What are you doing?"

"Vage have you seen the humans that have been doing this?" Leif asked. "They're all throughout the forest causing these fires! We need to stop them!"

"I know Leif," Vage sighed. "We've been fighting them back as best we could. However, the fires they've started are already so big that we have to prevent it from going any further before we can do anything else."

"They're capturing Pokemon by the droves!" Leif said.

"We'll free them soon enough," Vage replied. "Leif…I have a mission for you. I need you to go to the beginning of the river, where the waterfall is. Take these Wurmple there. Go find a Crawdaunt named Corkus…he should…he should be waiting…please…"

However, many Pokemon turned their heads to the right. Leif did the same for his eyes to go wide with fear.

Humans in black uniforms with red shapes on their breasts stood at attention, holding Pokeballs in their hands, surrounding by a crowd of mostly Fire and Water-type Pokemon.

"Everyone!" Vage yelled. "Keep working on the wildfire! Those of you resting are going to have to deal with these humans!"

But Leif couldn't. He was paralyzed in fear. The number of humans there were looked equivalent to the sizable number of Pokemon Leif saw putting out the fire. However, if at least half would be working on putting out the fire then they may not stand a chance. If they clashed he knew it would be a terrible, bloody mess.

 _There's nothing I can do._ He supposed. _But at the same time…I can't leave them. I swore this day that I would make it up to my brethren Treecko to stay and fight before I left. The day those humans take my forest and force me to abandon_ everyone… _that's the day I quit being a Mystery Dungeon operative._

Leif turned to the Wurmple that were beside him as he looked at them intensely.

"You guys stay back," the Treecko said as he pointed to a spot over where a large group of trees were still standing. "Go to the spot in the woods and hide underneath the undergrowth. Don't move unless fire starts spreading, understood?"

The Wurmple all nodded.

"Good," Leif said. "Because I'm about to do something crazy."

Leif gripped the black scarf around his neck and turned it around before sweeping his arms back and charging forward into the crowd of Pokemon. This immediately drew the Ember attacks of many a Fire-types but, just as Vage had showed him, he used his speed to bounce a little to gain momentum. Also, just as he might have gotten too close, he immediately diverted to the left. As the Ember and Flamethrower attacks followed him, from above Pidgeotto, Swellow and Spearow had dive-bombed the Fire Pokemon with a combination of Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, and Peck.

The Fire-types then turned their attacks on the Bird Pokemon bombarding them from above, giving Leif the opportunity to stand still and observe the human's Pokemon.

He noticed the Treecko were doing their best to carry Water-type Pokemon by tree but some had started harassing the humans' Pokemon by tree, jumping out at random intervals and striking as the jumped down. However, most that did that were killed by an Ember. Leif, however, saw his opportunity as he observed a Quagsire launching a Water Gun above. The large blue Pokemon was standing at the edge of the encirclement of Pokemon, which Leif saw as the perfect opportunity.

He darted back into the woods, scaled a tree and hopped onto the lower set of the branches before leaping to another tree limb. Leif stopped on a tree limb where he could get a clear view of the group of humans. He grew the small tendrils from the palms of his hands and focused on the Quagsire. Leif leaped from the branch, planting the tendrils into the back of the Water and Ground-type as he came down. The skin of the Pokemon withering into a wrinkled husk. Leif then jumped back and smacked a human in black across the face with his tail, bloodying his face and making several of his teeth get knocked out.

Leif then darted away as a few fireballs failed to hit him. As he looked back he saw a female human order her Houndoom to burn use Flamethrower on the trees behind them. The Houndoom complied, setting ablaze the trees that Treecko had been previously jumping from. Leif smiled as he saw this.

 _Yes._ Leif said. _Do burn as much plant matter near you as you can. With your Water-types down that's the smartest plan as you_ surely _won't be trapped in the resulting wildfire. Yes, keep it up dumbasses._

However, things were getting out of hand quickly.

Since about half of the Pokemon were trying to deal with the humans in black uniforms the wildfire the forest Pokemon had been trying to put was receiving much less attention. Most were a safe distance from it so it wouldn't harm most of them immediately but it was still there if far more controlled. And the battle itself was quickly becoming a chaotic mess.

Forest Pokemon from all over appeared from the trees and the sky, attacking the force of Water and Fire-types the humans had procured. This, in turn, seemed to attract other humans. With each side of the battle gradually growing larger with the force putting out the fire staying the same, the field in front of Treecko seemed to be becoming an overcrowded mess where dead Pokemon lay in droves and a few dead humans lay in to the sides.

 _This is…out of control._ He thought to himself.

Leif did manage, however, to see a certain Swellow with a black scarf around her neck blowing Air Slash after Air Slash into the fire. She stood on the ground as she did this, protected from the Fire-type attacks by the wilds fighting against the humans and was her attacks were greatly dissipating more flames than the smaller Water-types' Water Guns were. Leif ran up to Leela as fast he could, smiling up at her.

"Leif!" she screamed as she prepared another Air Slash. "You're okay! Vage and I weren't sure _what_ happened to you! I'm kind of tired right now so I'm not up much for fighting…last I saw Vage he wasn't in such great shape…"

"Leela!" Leif screamed. "Where can I go to find more Water-types?! Where are they swarming from?! I'll bring as many as I can if you'll tell me!"

"Leif!" she said as she stopped using her Air Slash. She lowered her body to the ground, letting her wings sag into the burnt grass and leaves beneath, obviously tired. She panted a bit as her voice sounded quite shallow. "There isn't much you can do! Go find somewhere safe and hide-"

"I'm not hiding!" he yelled back. "I'm going to help-!"

Leif was interrupted as Leela slapped him and to Poliwag and Squirtle beside her away with her wings. Leif skidded into the dirt along with the other two Pokemon before he saw the blue feathered bird Pokemon go up in flames. Leif turned to see the Flamethrower had come from another row of humans, Growlithe and Houndoom standing in front to encircle them. They had entered the grove from another part of the woods, the part of the tree-line where Leif had first entered. They were launching Ember at the line of wild Pokemon that had begun fighting the human trainers. They also picked off Pokemon in the air that seemed to be carrying Water Pokemon. With another line of humans they looked to be fairly overwhelmed.

Leif ran over to Leela's body as it was set on fire and she was flapping desperately to get it off. The Squirtle and Poliwag shot their Water Gun at her body, steam immediately rising from her burning body. Leif waited in horror before the Water-types had quenched most of the fire on her body before running over to her. He could smell the charred feathers and muscles, lying on the ground and sighing.

"Leela…" Leif said as he was close to tears.

"I…I don't think I'll make it," the Swellow said.

She stood up weakly, part of her right wing singed off and most of her back blackened. She started flapping her wings again, preparing another Air Slash.

"I…I'm going to get rid of this fire," she said. "Even if I have can't protect myself."

"But-" Leif muttered while crying.

"Nothing you say will convince me otherwise," she said, her weak voice full of sadness. "Just go. All of you. Get to safety."

The Poliwag and Squirtle complied, running away as Leif reluctantly ran toward the group of wilds fighting the humans' Pokemon.

 _I'm not running._ Leif said. _I'm not going to run…I'm too strong for that. I will never run from Pokemon who need me._

However, as Leif saw the state of the wild Pokemon fighting, his heart sunk. Most everyone had been burnt to death, nothing more than a blackened corpse with severed limbs. The few Pokemon that still remained were almost all Flying-types that hovered above, taking shots at the Fire-types from above.

It was obvious why. The second force of humans in black had used their Fire-type Pokemon to unleash Flamethrower on the wild Pokemon combatants. The outpour of Ninjask, Weepinbell, Pidgeotto and various other wilds was great but usually weren't enough to stop the second force of Fire-types as they were either weak to the typing or two frail to take a strong Fire attack. And the wildfire, wild dying, was still present not far away.

The wilds were in a losing battle and, although, an Ember or Flamethrower could not usually reach a Flying-types, the humans had quite a few number of Ghost-type Pokemon that could. Leif saw one particular Gastly had launched a Shadow Ball that blew a particular Ledian out of the air. The Bug-type fell to the earth and crashed. Leif ran over to the crater Vage lay in, his body partially burnt and much of his skin torn away.

"Vage!" Leif said as he shook him.

The Ledian stood up slowly, standing to watch the chaos of the battle in front of him unfold. The wild Pokemon coming out of the woods to defend their home were being burned to death in droves and Leif could easily see how it pained Vage as he hung his head.

"We lost," Vage said as he smiled. "We lost big time, kid."

The way he said it made Leif cry. He couldn't stand Vage being sad on him. He was, after all, the guy who had kept the Treecko's spirit up the whole time he was with him and Leela. He never once meant to frown or be mean, his whole being just a ball of happiness.

And yet here he stood, his head hung in defeat, his smile as hollow and fake as could be.

"We failed this forest," he said. "We failed the Mystery Dungeon affiliation, we failed everything."

"No!" Leif said. "We haven't failed yet! I can get away and you can still fly out of here-!"

Vage opened the back of his red exoskeleton. Leif saw in horror the Vage's right wing was half-burnt off and the left wing was nothing more than stub.

"They got me good," he said sorrowfully. "I tried holding on as long as I could but that last Shadow Ball took out my other wing. I…I can't get out of here in time. I'm no good to anyone. I'll die here Leif, just like everyone else who failed to protect their home."

Leif was sobbing now, his cheeks and snout drenched in tears.

"Vage," Leif asked. "What about the other Treecko in this forest? What happened to them?"

"Most are dead," Vage replied. "Either killed by the humans' Pokemon or died in the resulting wildfires."

"I wonder if any of them knew me," Leif said.

"I did, however, ask briefly if any of them knew a Treecko named Leif," Vage answered. "There was this one Treecko who did. He was an older one, saying he had a kid brother who was the runt of the group that got went missing one day. He said the Treecko probably was killed awhile back."

Leif cried more, the ground beneath his beginning to get wet.

"Leif," Vage said as he panted. "Don't risk your life for me. I'm done for anyway. I just want you to take those Wurmple and run to where I told you…where Corkus should be…the waterfall."

With a heavy heart Leif slowly backed away before turning around and running back towards the undergrowth. Leif darted back into the greenery where he placed the Wurmple. He saw them all, crowded against one another.

"Are we leaving yet?" one asked.

"Just hold on," Leif replied.

He turned around to watch Vage. He bent his head over Leela's scorched corpse that was not far from the fire, looking at her with sorrow. He then turned to the fire as the stars on his back were glowing. He took four of his arms and smashed them against one another. The result was a visible wave of light that shook the wildfire enough so that many of the flames began dissipating. This made him a target of the Fire-type Pokemon who shot Ember and Flamethrower at him. However, even as Vage's body went up in flames he could still be seen knocking his fists together, putting out the fire.

"That's Swarm," a Wurmple said.

Leif turned to him.

"It's an ability common among Bug-type Pokemon," she continued. "When they're in critical condition it powers up Bug-type moves. He is doing his best to use that ability to increase his Bug Buzz."

Leif shook his head.

"Let's go," he said as he started sobbing again.

Leif was careful to scale the trees above and lead the Wurmple through a path they could take without running into the wildfire. He would climb a tree to get a good view at regular intervals before climbing back down and leading them away. He and the Wurmple had to walk burning, crashed trees, go around entire sections of the forest that had either turned to ash or were still burning their entire journey. Since Leif had to slow down for the Wurmple and keep an eye out for humans the entire trek took until the afternoon. However, since Leif knew most of the forest pretty well he knew almost exactly where the waterfall was. Also, since most Pokemon were attempting to flee the burning woods exactly zero predators attempted to attack them.

Leif walked out of the forest's tree line to finally see the waterfall, the water crashing down to create an elegant rainbow in the orange sunlight of the afternoon. He and the Wurmple had a collective sigh as they walked up to the splashing water. Then they were repulsed by what they had found.

Dead Water-type Pokemon littered in the stream, Corphish and Lotad for the most part. Leif stepped back in horror, shaking his head as tears fell from his shut eyes as he looked at the scorch marks and bruises on their backs.

 _They got here first._ Leif thought.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, came a blast of red. Leif jumped out of the way, only to see the Wurmple behind him scorched to stale ash. Leif looked in horror as the Wurmple who were still alive whirled every-which-way in confusion as Pokeballs hit almost all of their heads. Some were caught while some weren't.

Leif turned ahead to see that standing on the cliff, next to the waterfall, were four human trainers, all holding Pokeballs. Two Houndoom, an Arcanine, and two Octillery stood beside them. Leif turned to the two remaining Wurmple not captured.

"Run for it!" Leif yelled.

The two Wurmple did as requested, moving away as fast as their small feet would allow them. Leif attempted to use his tail to break the Pokeball a Wurmple was in, Pounding away as much as he could. He had gotten three decent hits in before it broke open for the Wurmple to reappear.

"Go!" Leif yelled.

However, Leif whirled around just in time to see a Houndoom bounding towards them, shooting a blast of scorching flames from its open jaws. He dodged right in time, only to see the Bug-type he'd just freed swallowed whole by the Flamethrower.

 _No._ He thought to himself.

Leif tumbled down to his knees to see the Houndoom burn the other two Wurmple alive, their blackened corpses flying in the air before landing on the rocky shore of the river. On instinct Leif dodged the Flamethrower aimed at him. His leap made him land not far from the edge of the tree-line as he looked up to see the second Houndoom bound down towards him, as well as an Arcanine ridden by two of the humans. The other two climbed down the cliff by ladders, slowly walking towards them as their Octillery crawled beside them.

Leif looked down at himself as the human trainers and their Pokemon assembled to the front of him, ashamed.

 _I couldn't do it Vage._ Leif thought to himself. _I couldn't do it. I failed, just like you said._

He had no more tears to shed, only the emptiness that came from acknowledgement that one had been defeated despite their best attempts. He had no more crying to do, simply looking at the humans with a blank stare, slow resentment toward them building but ultimately non-existent as all his emotions became hollow. He couldn't feel anything. A human male attempted to speak to him but Leif could only recognize some of the words as Leela and Vage had only taught him a small portion of human language.

"Looks like you didn't make it in time," a black haired human said. Leif could not recognize all the words he spoke but he could tell they were full of anger. He stepped up beside his Houndoom. The three other humans didn't seem to pay much attention to Leif, instead picking up the Pokeballs containing the caught Wurmple. Leif would have liked to save them but if he moved any closer to them it would be suicide as the Houndoom in front had his eyes trained on the Treecko. "Trying to save those little worms by means of sending them down the river on a Lotad's back? Pretty smart for a bunch of wilds. And look guys, he even has a little bandana around his neck? Where'd you get that? Off of some human you killed back in the woods you slaughtered?"

He glared at Leif.

"You wilds all hate us," he said. "Thinking _we're_ the enemy. And yet you kill any Pokemon that steps into your territory without question. This isn't a tragedy. This is justice."

Leif resisted the urge to glare up at him as the trainer withdrew an empty Pokeball from his waist, holding it out with pride.

"You have nowhere to go," the human said. "Stand still and be captured. Or die."

Either the trainer was mistaken or he was lying.

Leif could jump into the woods any time he pleased and faster than the humans themselves ever could hope to keep up with. The Houndoom and Arcanine were faster than Leif was, but not more agile as he could hide underneath the shrubbery or the burnt, fallen trees in the forest and they could never hope to find him within his own element. Even if either Fire-types could possibly sniff him out they still wouldn't be able to catch him if he traveled by tree.

However, Leif didn't have the will to. His home was gone, both with Vage and Leela and his fellow Treecko and since Leela flew him on her back to the Mystery Dungeon HQ he could most likely never hope to find it on foot. He couldn't help anyone as any Pokemon not dead or captured (which was actually most) had long fled the burning forest. He couldn't help them beyond trying to get them to escape and even then he showed how great he was in that regard.

Leif stood there, looking at the sheen the red half of the Pokeball had in the sunlight, trying to figure out if he would be too hot inside it.

"You'll probably fetch a high price," the trainer said. "Treecko aren't very common in Kanto. Let's find out for sure, shall we?"

Leif watched as the Pokeball was flung at him, feeling the small orb hit the front of his head before opening up and swallowing him in a flash of light. He looked up at the trainer from the transparent red sphere. Leif was surprised how calm he was, the Pokeball obviously having an artificial substance the promoted peace-of-mind for whatever was contained in it. Leif was also surprised to see he could move his limbs inside, to limited degrees.

He tugged at his scarf and pulled it off, noticing it was slightly singed and already worn from today's battle. He placed it over in the murky corner of the ball and fell down, turning away from the sight of the trainer placing his hand over the Pokeball and taking it.

 _I am no longer a Mystery Dungeon operative._ He thought to himself. _Only a coward._

{Nathan}

Nathan marched with the rest of his crew down the river, meeting up with the rest of the Team Rocket operatives. They were holding their Pokeballs out of their freshly caught Pokemon with pride.

"So what'd you bring in, Nathan?" Clara asked.

He pointed to the load of Pokeballs around his waist before patting his Houndoom.

"And it's all because of this ol' bastard right here it is," he said.

"You did us proud today," Clara replied.

The excess Pokeballs that could not be carried around their waists were thrown into the back of a cart drawn by Arcanine and Rhyhorn. Nathan sat with four other Rocket grunts, leaning against the wood of the wheeled carrier as it rolled on.

"So what did you catch?" Nathan asked Clara.

"Quite the haul actually," she said. "My Gastly pinned a Slowbro down with a Hypnosis and then hit it with Shadow Ball so I was able to catch that. Then I caught a Gloom, a Beautifly…mmm, I even got a Kadabra."

"Ah," Nathan said. "Slowbro aren't common and Kadabra fetch a high price."

"I know," Clara said. "I'm going to use the money to repair the damages to my sister's house. A raid from the Johto military got her town good and I've been seeing what I can do about it. She's says if I have the money to fix it up I can come live with her."

"Hmm," Nathan sighed. "Well, with my haul I'm going to send it back to my mother and father. My dad lost his leg to a Heracross's Fury Cutter in the war and has had no way to bring any decent income. I've been picking up the slack for them with caught Pokemon to sell back to the military."

The grunts all slept soundly that night, sleeping in their carts before heading out in the morning back to Saffron City. That afternoon they departed from their carts and arrived in the large city. The bustling urban center full of pedestrians and flashing lights made Nathan excited every time he entered the city.

The Rockets entered the door of a tall skyscraper before taking separate elevators to varying floors of the tall building. He, Clara, and eight other Rocket grunts arrived to the fifth floor and saluted their admin.

"Admin Ghou," Nathan said.

"Afternoon," Ghou replied. "You may have a seat."

Nathan and his fellow grunts sat in front the long, white tables, filling up most of the seats. He stared at the five screens hanging from the wall directly in front of him.

"The ambassadors of the military should be on-screen momentarily," Ghou said. "Lay your catches out in front of you."

Nathan took his bag of Pokeballs and emptied them on the table in front of them, making sure they did not roll off the table. Within five minutes of waiting three of the screens hanging from the wall came on. One held a woman whose brown hair was fixed into a bun, a gruff, fat man with a tie and suit, and slender woman with red hair.

"Inventory," the red-haired woman said. "Starting from the right with your name."

Starting from the farthest right, where Clara sat, they called out their caught Pokemon. Clara listed hers while each ambassador from the military penciled down the Pokemon she listed. Then the man beside her, Justin, listed all the Pokemon he'd caught. It went on like this with Nathan being called fifth and list his haul and so on. After they wrote down every Pokemon they called as well as the name of the grunt who caught it prices were listed.

For the Pikachu Nathan had caught he would receive forty dollars, sixty for the Pidgeotto, one-hundred twenty for the Hypno, eighty-five for the Treecko and so on. The money awarded to Nathan would be given to him as soon as each enlisted Pokemon arrived. He smiled to himself, happy to have some money to give back to his folks.

{}

And as excited as he was of the purchase of his catches, Nathan got the short straw in a draw. He was the one who had to go and make the delivery. While he wasn't reluctant enough for the mission to not do it, the deliveryman got an extra fifty dollars, it was still slightly arduous.

Since the technology to send back Pokeballs from one portal to another, like what they had in Pokemon Centers, didn't extend past the Silver Mountain range you couldn't teleport a load of Pokeballs to where the military bases were. Also, where the Kanto military HQ was located, which was located not far from Cerulean City, had been experienced electricity problems for the past few months. Even if they could, no one wanted to send those caught Pokemon to the Kanto military base on account of getting caught.

To get to the rendezvous point it took him three days on a Tauros-drawn cart to get to Fuschia City and from there he took a two week high-speed boat trip before landing a small island and taking a different boat that specialized in travelling through icy water. That took a month long boat trip before arriving on another island and taking a common fishing boat to pose as a fisherman before arriving in Pallet Town. Nathan laid low and was friendly but talked little. It took a day to trek from the boonies of Pallet Town to the not-as-much-as-boonies-Viridian City before he arrived at the rendezvous point.

He stared over a small pit that had been dug for him, marked with a wooden sign that read Caution! Cable Work Below! Do Not Touch! with a mound of dirt to the side. Tools and wiring were even present scattered around the pit to make it look convincing, like a real site of construction. Nathan then emptied the Pokeballs from the multiple bags into the pit before tossing the dirt on top with his bare hands. He then patted the dirt in before throwing the shovel over to the side, smirking in glee.

It was a sneaky tactic the Rockets used to cover up illegal trade, including the military. Since there was no telling who was watching teleporters and at the end of each month everything sent by or to a public transporter had each item sent checked. It was likely they would be caught if they used them often and whenever official trade had to be conducted you to go to a public market. Even small shops that could be trusted with small supplies were usually not trusted with Pokemon to be sold, to valuable a commodity.

So, where Team Rocket operatives were near, pits like these were dug with signs to make whichever operative retrieving the goods understand where they were. Usually these were tasks done by low-level grunts and even the grunts doing the work weren't really sure of what they were doing so there was very little way of anyone finding out. Usually someone better trusted such as an admin would retrieve the goods and return back to base with them. From what Nathan heard tomorrow or the day after that someone should be retrieving the caught Pokemon.

{Cindy}

Cindy walked down the beaten, dirt road she'd walked every morning early. She half-lied to her mother that she went this way every day to go to the fields and steal vegetables from the Viridian farmers. However, it was only a half-truth in that she walked with her Snubbull just to enjoy the scenery of the landscape. Her parents usually never let her go near Viridian woodland as it was well-known wild Pokemon were usually there.

Still, Cindy couldn't resist wanting to be at least near the great outdoors. Her home in Viridian City was not only dull but somewhat harsh as farm-life was about all they engaged in. Viridian City did have a surprisingly diverse market and the occasionally travelers from the shore but other than she didn't really look forward to that much. Well, except maybe her Snubbull, Carrie, who usually put her in a good mood. Another reason she came all the way out here was just to spend some alone time with her only Pokemon.

Cindy in the road, about halfway between the gate to Viridian Forest and Viridian City to take a deep breath of the morning air.

"Doesn't this air feel wonderful Carrie?" the girl asked. "As isolated as this town can be, whenever I take a breath of that nice air I don't feel like I'd ever want to leave."

Carrie turned around to see that her Snubbull was rolling around in the grass, having fun on her own, which caused Carrie to sigh.

"Hmm," she shrugged. "Why does it feel like no one listens to me? Maybe it's that my voice is really passive and I don't have enough authority?"

"I don't know," Carrie replied. "I listen to you all the time and…"

She put her nose to the ground and started sniffing before putting her nose to a pile of dirt. Carrie looked at the sign near it and cringing.

"There's danger there!" she said before running toward Carrie. "You'll be electrocuted by the cables if you dig down!"

"What?" Carrie asked.

"I said-!" Cindy shouted before stepping into the dirt pile herself. She would have been more afraid if she had not heard an odd sound when stepping there.

Cindy lifted her foot to see she'd uncovered a bunch of dirt to reveal miniaturized Pokeballs buried in the pit. She leaned down, picking up a Pokeball that contained a green-winged moth-like Pokemon.

"What on Earth?" she exclaimed. "Are these doing here?"

Carrie continued to sniff to the ground, digging into the soil. She uncovered more Pokeballs, scattering them onto the ground behind her. Carrie crawled around, looking at the vast assortment of Pokeballs that surrounded her.

"How…?" she thought. "Why would anyone bury all these Pokemon here? Did they not want them?"

And then a little DING! went off inside Cindy's head. She resisted the urge to start jumping up in joy at her idea/discovery.

"And if somebody didn't want them…," she thought. "Then they probably wouldn't mind me keeping them! Oh boy, we've hit the jackpot Carrie! We get all of the Pokemon!"

She threw the Pokeballs in her hands into the air before falling down onto the ground, smiling with anticipation. Then she got up, looking at the balls thoughtfully.

"But…" she mumbled to herself. "How many Pokemon are you allowed to have in your party? Um…I think six."

"I think that's right," Carrie agreed. "Besides, we can't care for _all_ these Pokemon. And you got to keep me for sure so you can only have about five."

"Hmm," Cindy sighed. "Then that means I'll probably have to give away some of these to other people. I wonder if my father could use any…"

"You think someone was trying to hide them?" Carrie asked. "Because that's what it looks like."

"Probably so," Cindy said. "Truth is I don't know why they're here…but I can't just leave them. And besides, I don't why a person would leave them buried in a hole when they could hide the other ways. I hear a lot of trainers have storage facilities in Pokemon Center teleporters that can be used."

"Maybe we should leave them alone…" Carrie said.

"No," Cindy said. "I'm taking a few of these. Carrie, I think if someone is careless enough to dump Pokemon like this they deserve better. What do you say?"

Carrie sighed reluctantly.

"What the hell?" she shrugged.

{Leif}

Leif sat staring into the darkened horizon, an emptiness within himself as he recalled the events that led him here. He shook his head, the residual feeling of failure still clinging to him.

 _I wish I could have stayed in that Pokeball forever._ He thought to himself. _If only I never had to be out here and look at myself again. Why do I deserve to be alive after what happened?_

He shook his head, finding no answer.


	15. Deal of Death

{Sam}

"Come on guys, it shouldn't be much longer," Sam said.

Despite his promises his Pokemon's speed had not gotten past the speed of a crawl. Judeau seemed particularly slow as Sam could imagine his heavy wool was getting to him in the heat. Leif, while holding up better than the Flaffy, looked fairly tired as well, despite the fact he hadn't really battled all that much. Jackson had done most of the fighting though so he felt she'd probably need a rest soon. The sun beat on their backs without mercy and enough sweat poured from around the edge of his hair that he occasionally had to wipe the salty liquid from his eyebrows.

"How much farther?" Jackson asked.

"I think the map said about another half-mile," he replied. "Don't worry that's not far."

However, Sam's memory of that distance may have been foggy since he hadn't seen his Pokedex for maybe half an hour. He tried touching his Pokedex, which carried the map, as little as possible from the account of sweat trickling down to it. It didn't help that all four of his Pokemon had been battling during most of the morning. Cera, being an Ice-type, got so tired Sam had no choice but to recall her to her own Pokeball.

"We've been walking for two straight days," Jackson said. "It better not be more than a mile away-"

"Look, I see it!" Leif said as he pointed forward.

Sure enough, Sam could see buildings, large and small, just over a hill ahead of them.

"Ah," he sighed.

"Finally," Judeau said.

They practically dashed toward Moon Crater Town, only to slow down to prevent themselves from running into the Tauros-drawn carts carrying loads of supplies. Sam looked around to see that the city was gated by a hodgepodge of stone, wood and metalworking. The boy and his Pokemon were careful to go around the line of carts that were being checked by men at an entrance to the gate.

"Hey, look over there," Jackson said.

Leif, Sam and Judeau looked to where she had pointed as they saw another line entering through another opening. Instead of carts, apparently those traveling on foot came through as those were the only kind of individuals coming in. Sam marched up behind a woman and sat down, resting his legs and as his Pokemon tried to catch their breath with him.

"Uhh," Judeau sighed. "Finally. It's been a long day."

"Do you think they have much water we can buy?" Jackson said. "Last I saw, we're about out."

"Why, yes, I think there is water you can buy."

Sam and his three Pokemon looked up to see a tall young man in a very familiar orange vest.

"Brock?" Sam asked.

"That's ma' name," he replied with vigor.

"What are you doing here?" Jackson asked.

"Trying to finish the job you started during our battle?" Judeau asked.

Jackson and Sam shot him a glare to which he shrugged at them.

"Actually," Brock said. "I was kind of waiting around for this line to get a bit shorter and saw you. I was wondering if you could help me with some research I've been doing on the inside of Mt. Moon's caves concerning minerals. Challengers don't come in often so I'm allowed to have more freedom as a gym leader than a lot are. As such I've become a regular sight at this little old town."

"Yeah?" Sam asked. "Well, we were actually headed there. We need to get to Cerulean City for my next gym battle."

"Oh," he said. "So you're going to face Misty, eh?"

"Who's she?" Jackson asked.

"Why she's the gym leader of Cerulean City," Brock said. "She trains Water-type Pokemon and she's pretty young to. I heard that she's not past her late twenties and served as a lieutenant to Kanto's military. She graduated from the military university fairly early."

"Oh," Sam said. "I guess she's strong."

Brock nodded his head.

"Anyway," he replied. "While you're going through there, why don't you come with me? We're headed the same direction."

"I don't know," Sam said. "I'm not really interested in minerals and I think that may cause us a detour."

"Oh," Brock said. "I know my way around enough so that I'll probably get you through there faster than if I hadn't been with you. Plus, if you agree, I'll pay for everything during your stay in Moon Crater Town."

Sam's face brightened.

"Well, okay," Sam replied. "Nothing beats someone else paying for my next meals!"

"That's the spirit," Brock smiled.

{Leif}

Leif listened in and out of the conversation, his mind occupied on other things when he spotted two trainers in the rags he saw most wearing. He turned away, panicking a little.

 _What…_ He thought to himself. _What if they find me? What if they hear what happened to those trainers because of a wayward Grovyle? There were two trainers that were left alive…and I'm probably the only Grovyle here. It's not safe so long as we stay here._

"Samuel," Leif said.

Sam looked down to his Grovyle.

"May I return to my Pokeball?" he asked. "It's a bit too hot out here for my taste. My leaves are beginning to wilt."

Sam pulled out his Pokeball and returned Leif back inside it. He looked over at the trainers from the transparent ball, glaring at them out of fear before picking up his black scarf he'd tossed into the corner.

{Cera}

The Smoochum let cold air slightly blast into her friends' face. The four of them sighed in relief after she did.

"Thank-you," Brock said.

"My pleasure," Cera said out of habit. That's what she was supposed to say whenever she did something nice to another person. Oak taught her that.

They walked down the street with Cera, Judeau, Jackson, and Sam looking around them. The streets, while not as bad as in Pewter City, were fairly crowded and Cera felt sorry for anyone having to crowd around the shops on the side of the streets. There were also unfinished houses she saw many humans and Pokemon working to build on. She also saw more lines of people that led to water pumps where they were handing money over in exchange for a drink.

"This town looks in bad shape," Cera said.

"Yeah," Brock replied. "Not much anyone can do about it though. It looks this way mostly because it's newly built for the most part. Damn Pokemon in these fields are sticklers for not letting us pump any water from the lakes here so it was hard enough getting any irrigation."

Cera sighed.

 _Or maybe your using it all up and they won't have any left._ Cera thought to herself.

"Plus travelers are coming mostly from Pewter City as fast as they can manage," Brock explained. "The city's so crowded people are flinging themselves here even if they can barely afford it. I don't really blame them for it though as the sooner they move in the better chance they have of getting food and water before anyone else."

Cera glanced down to the side, trying to look away from Brock as he had said that.

 _I guess I should have never asked._ She thought.

{Sam}

The boy was happy to see that, after waiting in line for a while, Brock did in fact pay for the water to fill his canteens from the town's main water pump before retiring back to the Pokemon Center from.

"How long are you planning on staying?" Brock asked after the five of them arrived in the building.

"No more than the night," Sam answered. "We got to rest up before heading through Mount Moon's caves. My Pokemon deserve it."

"So I guess I'll be providing a plate for each of us then?" Brock asked.

"I already filled up while on the way here with some grass," Judeau said. "I don't need any."

"I'd like some food if they have some," Jackson said before turning to Sam. "You think Leif will want a plate?"

"I'm not sure," Sam asked. "I'll have to ask. Will you have anything to eat, Brock?"

"No," he replied. "I packed my own rations so I won't need to buy my own food."

Brock ordered a few small plates for Sam and his Pokemon, four in total, and brought it back to the room the gym leader had rented them. Sam sat their plates down in a square in the floor of the room before calling out Leif. The Grass-type appeared looking fazed, as though he was not prepared to be called out.

"Hey, Leif, you want some of this?" his trainer asked.

The Grovyle shook his head before sitting down beside Judeau. Sam sat down as Jackson and Cera gathered around and dug into his plate. He grabbed his pink fish with his hands, finding eating without utensils more savory as he recognized the flavor of roasted Magikarp. Samuel always liked Magikarp, they were fairly easy to catch and made a nice meal with little cooking. He ate them for a whole year while they were rebuilding their house after their second raid.

"Hmm," Jackson mused. "And here I thought _all_ humans ate with forks and knives.

"Yeah," Sam said before grinning evilly. "When their mothers aren't around to tell them what and what not to eat like. We didn't have any silverware once so I could eat like this _all_ the time. Then she didn't let me."

"Hmm," Jackson continued as she picked her Magikarp up with her own claws. "Respect."

She then dug in.

"I didn't know you ate meat," Sam said.

"I don't like to kill prey," Jackson said. "But I eat carrion when it's available to me. Mankey are more omnivores than anything but we're not so big on chasing down food."

"Oh," Sam replied. "I heard you guys were all ready to kill anyone who stepped into your territory. That's what they always told me back home."

"I won't deny that's true," she said. "In groups my kind _are_ pretty vicious like that."

Sam picked up a handful of green beans to eat. It wasn't no time at all before he'd finished his own plate and, seeing as how no one was eating at the plate Leif was getting at, decided dig into it on his own.

"It was pretty out of the blue for Brock to do this for us," Judeau remarked. "I mean, I can't imagine this costing next to nothing."

"Eh," Sam shrugged. "Brock seemed like a nice enough guy when we first met him. But I understand what you're saying. If he's willing to spend this much on food for us I guess he needs a lot of help."

" _A lot_ ," Cera said. "I saw him pay up front and it was actually kind of a wad of cash he spent. Food here must not be that cheap. He may have heavy lifting for us."

"You guys could handle that," Sam said as he ripped a piece of Magikarp from the other plate. "Jackson's a Fighting-type and you know Confusion. S'kay in my book."

He dropped the fish down his gullet after opening his mouth wide.

"I think I agree with Sam," Judeau explained. "Free food is free food that we don't have to spend more of our resources on. Let's be honest, we pay for this stuff in sweat and blood. You guys should be wishing for this more often."

"Well," Sam said as he licked his lips. "I'm full. After putting these plates up I'm also hitting the hay. Night."

{}

The next morning Samuel and his Pokemon were having a pretty excellent breakfast of fruit and cheese. Sam's family were no dairy farmers so when he got cheese he considered a miracle for the taste. He was even happy to see that both Judeau and Leif had regained enough of an appetite to dig into their own plates. Only Jackson didn't seem to like the cheese.

"This stuff is _white_ , almost _yellow_ ," the Mankey said.

"Yeah, what about it?" Judeau asked. "Its food, ain't it? What more do you need?"

"I don't know," she added. "Something about eating that…color."

"Eh," Sam said, his mouth full of the stuff. "If you don't want it…"

He swallowed, panting a bit as he did.

"…I'll take it."

Jackson slid the plate over, devoid of fruit as he scarfed down the cheese like a starving man.

"Sam you have pretty poor eating habits," Cera said. "And I've hardly ever eaten with silverware."

Sam sighed angrily before Leif seemed to draw the conversation back down to normality.

"So how long will it take to get to Cerulean?" Leif asked.

"I checked the map over and over again," the boy said. "It seems that depends very heavily on the route you take. The geography in and outside Mount Moon seems fairly…um, diverse. I've even looked at a few notes that tells the _correct_ path to take, even though they all seem to lead the same way. It's actually a good thing Brock came with us when he did. It'll be easier traversing the path with him than without him."

"So what you're saying is we should stay close to him?" Leif asked. "Seems wise. Speaking of which, did not he say he was waiting for us to finish breakfast as soon as we were done?"

"He did," Sam said seriously. "Let's go."

Sam carried the plates back to the corner where they had been served from before the five of them walked outside where Brock smiled at them as he waved.

"Are you ready to depart?" he asked.

"Of course," Samuel said. "We need to head out."

The six of them marched up a hill to see wide entrance in the sheer mountain slope. Brock let out two of his Pokemon, a Rhyhorn and a Vulpix. As they stepped in, at the gym leader's orders, the Fire-type ignited as small flame from the tip of its mouth, brightening the area directly around them.

"Sam," Brock said. "Tell your Electric-type to do the same. We'll need light for a while as we may have to walk a distance before a better lit is possible to see in."

"There's a better lit are in here?" Cera asked.

"Farther down there are places where sunlight leaks out," Brock replied. "We may get close."

"Judeau," Sam said. "Light it up."

The Flaafy let sparks fly from its body as the electricity around his wool created a bright light that doubled the area of what they could see well.

"I have a flash light in case," Brock said. "I just don't want to run the batteries down, so stay close."

They walked down the cave with no one talking, only observing and looking around nervously. Sam thought the cave would have been quiet and peaceful when he first envisioned walking in but soon realized that wasn't the case. The dark, damp interior was full of odd, ridiculous noises. He heard screeches beside and overhead, cries clashing and fighting, screams of prey terrified in their last few moments of life, dripping of water that all these Pokemon survived on. Rocks could be heard falling, breaking and cracking of stone along with a thin taste of dust that dried Sam's mouth no matter how hard he spat. And, if he listened hard enough, he could hear the slow clopping of feet…he didn't know what creature, whether Pokemon or not had the ambitious, purpose-driven galloping he heard but sounded familiar nonetheless.

"Those sounds," Cera said. "I can _hear_ them. I can sense half of them, their emotions are so strong. It's so vicious, everyone."

"Hmm," Brock said. "You Psychics become aware of the feelings of others, whether you realize it or not, as you get older. I once had someone I knew who said it was a curse…always agreed life for humans and Pokemon was a harsh cycle of survival, of kill or be killed."

Brock stopped, prompting them all to do the same. Sam looked down to see an artificial like stairway in front of them. They slowly descending it, making sure no one tripped on the way down. As Samuel stepped back to the natural floor of the cave his foot bumped into something. He looked down to see the toe of his shoe had bumped into a jack hammer that had been lying there.

He then looked around in the perimeter of bright light to see similar tools like digging equipment and tools and…and…

"Oh shit," Sam said. "Is that…?"

"Blood," Jackson answered.

And sure enough there was blood that painted the craggy surface of the cave's floor. There multiple streaks of it, as though a fatal wound had bled out while the body was being dragged away. Sam shook with fright.

"What…what happened here?" he asked.

"I bet they were killed by wild Pokemon," Cera answered. "There are so many different Pokemon in here all with the vicious need to eat…I don't doubt it."

"No," the gym leader's voice boomed grimly. "You're wrong."

Sam and his Pokemon turned to Brock, to see his face etched darkly in the dim light.

"What…what do you mean it wasn't wilds?" Sam asked. "Sounds reasonable to me."

"You're wrong because I know from a report that these killings weren't made by wild Pokemon," Brock answered. "These were miners were working at the protection of Rock-type Pokemon when they were killed by the Pokemon of Team Rocket."

The name almost knocked Sam on his feet.

 _Team…Rocket…?_ He screamed inside his own head.

The words were much less the name of an organization to the boy and more of an equivalent of the boogeyman. Everyone in Pallet Town, from Professor Oak to his mother to his neighbors had told him of Team Rocket like they told him of ghosts.

They were an organization of mass size and incredible power that had somehow managed to elude public eye and authority of the Pokemon League's gyms, as secretive and unknowing as an affiliation can be. However, as murky as their whole group was, nothing was more terrifying than what they did. Samuel was told that they kidnapped people right from their homes, sold them into slavery or forced them to join the Rockets. It was said any Rocket that tried to escape was either killed or sold into slavery. They were known to outright steal valuable goods in broad daylight or one day those goods would be long gone with a few bodies here and there. The Rockets were known to have such a strong flow of items, Pokemon and people to all be sold to an unbelievably wide variety of dealers and buyers. Not only that but there were widespread rumors the Rockets had control of vast amounts of territory and even entire industries in their iron grip.

Going against them was said to be worse than suicide.

"I received reports that the miners refused to leave their posts after the Rocket's ordered them _not_ to," Brock said. "And when they refused, _this_ happened. Now they have most of their tools used by the miners and, as we speak, they used harvesting Geodude and other Rock-types for the minerals in their bodies."

"That's…that's awful," Jackson said.

"It sure is," Brock said bitterly. "With them using the minerals from the harvested Rock-types Moon Crater Town may not be able to hold up very well in the future. We need those minerals for ourselves and that's why I called you, Sam."

"I thought you wanted me to-" Sam started.

"Collect fossils for me?!" Brock asked. "You honestly expected _me_ , a gym leader who always has to be keeping track of _two_ separate towns and understaffed in both departments while trying to keep the traveling paths free from wild Pokemon, to just casually stroll into this dark, damp cave to look for a bunch of fucking _rocks_?! And then pay for the meals of a teenage boy for two nights just to help me?! Samuel, I never expected you to be all that experienced seeing as how you're little more than a child who obviously lied about having six Pokemon but I never took you as a dumbass!"

Sam's whole party was on edge at the gym leader's words, everyone confused and tense.

"Don't say that about Samuel!" Judeau spoke up. "He's helped us more than anyone else you're dead wrong for implying he was stupid! So if you lied to us, what's your real intention?!"

"Hmm, Samuel," Brock said. "You should control your Pokemon better, they speak for you, and if you continue to let this happen your lack of discipline will be your undoing."

Sam glared back at the gym leader.

"But yes," Brock replied. "I lied. The Rockets are notorious for having spies in every corner of society, especially in a place that could so easily be controlled by the Rockets such as Moon Crater Town. So I couldn't help but lie. And the reason I sought you to help me Sam was for two reasons. One, it's unlikely you're a spy, being so obviously naïve to the world around you. Second, you did manage to beat me, I even thank you for sparing my Pokemon so I could actually reuse them in my duties as a gym leader, meaning you're not fragile on the battlefield."

"And so you bribed me with a meal," Samuel said. "So that I'd be _forced_ to help you with taking down the Rockets in here. _You are low._ "

"Low is killing valuable workers with families and hopes for a better tomorrow just to sink your teeth into a new industry," Brock replied. " _I'm_ not the low one, the Rockets are. I'm just being pragmatic."

"Also cruel and deceptive," Jackson said.

"I don't think so," Brock said. "I paid for your food for you creatures, rented you a place to sleep and am leading you to your next location. And all I ask is a one-time favor. I think that's more than fair. Soldiers like my father have to fight every day in a long, bloody mess of a war for not even a fourth of what I fed all of you. Now follow me."

"Where are you taking us?" Judeau asked sternly.

"To where I believe the Rockets may be mining," he replied. "Deeper underground. Now come on, I don't have all day."

{}

Sam followed Brock further down the cave, the tension between the gym leader and the boy still thick from what he'd said. The Gym leader had brought his full party, his Kabuto, Geodude and Onix moving with them next to Rhyhorn and Vulpix, bringing their group to exactly ten. Sam shuffled his feet forward reluctantly, expecting at any moment to see the fabled black uniforms with red Rs on their shirt that Sam had heard so much about.

 _Samuel?_ Cera said.

He turned to look down to her, before remembering she had telepathy.

"Yeah?" he asked.

 _I can hear your thoughts, you won't need to say them aloud._ She replied.

 _Alright._ Samuel thought back.

 _I was thinking that we could run away._ The Smoochum stated. _If we did there wouldn't be much Brock would do as you and your Pokemon are generally faster than his._

 _Yeah._ Samuel said. _There is a strong possibility we could run away. But, in this case, what would we do if we did? The inside of this mountain is sprawling with different passageways and paths that we could easily get lost. While Brock did lie to us to get use in a dangerous position at least he knows the way and if we do what will we do if we get lost? My Pokedex can't show an in depth map of an underground area, so it's impossible to correctly navigate from the inside._

 _But the Rockets!_ Cera answered. _Oak described them as being far more dangerous than any gym leader or member of the Elite Four could be! I say we ditch the gym leader here as his wrath is nothing compared to that of the Rockets! I've been told they've been known to murder whole families and small towns just as revenge! Or worse, be sold into slavery. You think that's not something to avoid at all costs?_

 _Yeah…_ Sam replied. _I agree with almost everything you said….but at the same time, if Brock is right and I don't think he'd be this serious unless he knew he was, we could still potentially run into them and I don't think that being here alone would do us any favors with fighting them. Brock's strength as a gym leader also gives a critical survival edge._

 _Good point._ Cera said. _I never thought of it that way._

 _Still, though._ Sam said. _Can you tell the others that at the first sign of Rockets don't engage them, just run like hell and don't look back? Pokemon like you guys would only serve for the Rockets to potentially capture for selling. Try to hide and we'll see if we can't group up later._

 _I think I can manage that._ Cera responded. _My telepathy only seems to work with those I know well._

Sam turned back to Brock before his Vulpix stopped.

"Brock," she said. "I've been hearing something like human footsteps for a while now in a particular direction. There seems to be many."

"Vulpix, why didn't you say this before?" he asked.

"I wasn't sure if it was our own or not until now," she replied. "There also seems to be the humming of machinery."

"Hmm," Brock said. "Sounds suspicious to me, especially since the Rockets killed about half the miners here."

A sickening smile broadened on his face.

"Let's see if we can't sneak up on them, shall we?" he asked.

At his command, the Vulpix led them in the direction that she had heard the noise, the ten of them traversing artificial stairways and metal debris that lay around.

"Hey," Jackson said. "I just noticed something. Why aren't any Pokemon attacking? I mean usually _some_ attack but almost none are doing so now. Why?"

"It's because of the Rockets," Brock said. "They are so brutally efficient at either catching, killing or using wild Pokemon that the wilds are too afraid to strike."

"Wow," Judeau exclaimed.

"Wow indeed," Brock said bitterly. "The reason I just want to strangle every Rocket I see is they'd be a godsend to humanity if they weren't so fucking selfish. Wish they'd keep the damned wilds from killing my townspeople but I guess you can't get everything."

The further they were led forward the more footsteps became apparent as well as the humming of machinery, the cries of pain a backdrop.

"What is that sound?" Jackson asked.

"It sounds revolting," Judeau said.

"Mining," Brock said. "The Rockets are close."

Sam noticed the ceiling above them became distinctly lower than it had been before they started making their way farther down. He looked around him, trying to make out if he could see any silhouettes of goons in black as the footsteps and general noise level grew with each passing footstep.

"Brock," Sam said. "How do we know that the Rockets aren't trailing or ambushing us as we speak?"

"We don't," he answered. "This cave's too damn dark and our Pokemon using Flash doesn't give us enough light to see very much past ten feet in front of us. We're about as trapped as can be, like rats in a cage."

"Damn," Judeau said with fear in his voice.

"Damn indeed," Brock replied.

"Not entirely," Leif said. "My night vision is superior to most of my other teammates'. If there was anyone trailing us, I could most definitely see."

"Good man," Brock said. "Sam, I see your Pokemon do in fact have your Pokemon speak up for you. They even think better than you do."

The Grovyle let out a reptilian hiss as his other Pokemon made similar angry grunts before Leif withdrew from the light created by Judeau and the Vulpix, just far enough so that Sam could make out his Pokemon's silhouette. Sam breathed a sigh of relief before telling Cera to tell Leif that he was glad Leif had volunteered to do that. It eased his mind somewhat, extra security being a much desired service in this dark dungeon.

"Ssshhh," Brock said. "Do you hear that?"

All of them nodded. The machinery had gotten so loud it drowned out the sounds that wild Pokemon made in the distance. Buzzing, pounding, cries were all present from where they stood. It almost drowned out Sam's own thoughts it was so loud. In front of them one could see a bit of light leaking out from an opening in the cave wall, the source of the noise.

"We're close," Brock said, obvious fear present in his voice. "Vulpix…see if you can walk out a little bit farther to see anything."

The Vulpix made the flame at the tip of her mouth slightly larger, walking forward. In the light Samuel a dark entrance that arched before them that was slightly better lit than the entrance into Mt. Moon's cave, even without the Fire-type's Flash. Then, suddenly Sam heard scuffling to the back of them, cries of pain and fury he recognized in Pokemon but in his Grovyle. Samuel wanted to turn around to the source of that pain of his Pokemon but he saw the Vulpix tackled by what appeared to be a Rattatta, knocking her flame out.

Sam went into panic mode as he hit the floor, covering his head as rocks thrown by Brock's Pokemon were slung at the opposing Pokemon that darted out of the darkness. Sam could see flashes of Ember and Thundershock fired at opposing foes and in the flashing light he could see Rockets in black with red Rs standing against the darkness of the cave, commanding their Pokemon to fight against Sam's. The boy was so scared as to what was going on around him he didn't even bother to look up until he felt a tug at his shoulder.

"Come one!" Jackson said as she pushed at him. "We have to move! Now! We're waiting on you!"

Sam cursed himself for being so cowardly before jumping up and running forward, following his Mankey. However, Sam was tackled to the ground by a Rattatta that barreled to him, its nose hitting the center of his chest and knocking the wind out of him. It attempted to bit into his flesh until Jackson sent it flying with a good kick. Sam muttered cusses again before dashing across the cave floor, following Jackson.

Now he could make out the silhouettes of adult men and woman commanding Pokemon that tackled and bit at Brock and Sam's Pokemon. Jackson gestured for him to follow which he did, running out of the crowd of fighters. He tumbled toward his Pokemon, falling down in sheer panic as he looked up to see Jackson beside him while Judeau and Cera used their respective elemental attacks to keep at bay the advancing Rocket grunts.

"Where's Leif?" Sam asked.

"Lost I saw him he was helping defend Brock against the Rockets," she said. "I think they were near the entrance."

And that's when Sam heard the giant shaking above him. And the rock and loose earth fell to the ground from the ceiling, each small boulder causing a shockwave that seemed to rock the floor.

"Get back everybody!" Sam yelled.

The four of them ran out of the way where the falling debris could not hit them, with practically everyone ducking. Sam saw Cera using Confusion to levitate rocks out of the way, preventing them from falling on her friends. Once they had outrun the area where stone debris was falling Sam and his Pokemon watched as the falling rocks piled up, stirring clouds of dust in the air.

When the dust cleared and the rocks had stopped falling, Sam saw that the Rockets had scattered and a pile of rocks lay in front of the entrance where they had heard the machinery. Rocks had fallen onto the bodies of many Rockets as well as their Pokemon. Brock's Pokemon seemed to all be safe as rock didn't seem to do much against Rock-types, with even Brock's Vulpix hiding under his Rhyhorn for protection. However, among the corpses one gathered the gym leader's Pokemon.

Samuel instantly knew who had died.

"Brock…" he moaned.

The Geodude moved up to Sam, the others still mourning their trainer's loss, while he looked up at the trainer sorrowfully.

"He's dead," he said.

If a boulder could cry this one was on the verge of it.

"I'm-I'm sorry," Jackson said. "There was nothing we could do. The resulting fighting must have loosed-"

"No," Geodude said. "No need to apologize. My comrades and I will lead you out of here. We know this cave by now so that we can lead you out."

But Sam didn't care. He rushed over to the pile of rocks, throwing the fallen stones from the wreckage as fast as he could.

"What happened to Leif?!" he exclaimed. "What happened to him!? Where is he?!"

Sam turned to his Pokemon as they walked up to him.

"What happened?!" Sam asked.

"He was near the entrance when the rocks fell," Rhyhorn said. "Not far from Brock?"

"So he's dead?" Sam asked while on his knees.

"Maybe not," Geodude said. "We saw the bodies of everyone else. Its possible Leif may have survived if not buried underneath all that debris."

Sam pulled another rock out of the pile.

"Then help me find him damn it!" Sam yelled. "Come on, give me a hand so we can find Leif!"

"We have to go, _now_!"

Sam turned to see the Vulpix had yelled at him, tears in her eyes.

"You aren't the only one who lost someone today!" she said. "We have to get out now before the Rockets regroup and we'll all die for sure! Now come on!"

"Fuck off!" Sam said, throwing more rocks out of the pile. "I'm finding Leif and then we'll leave! Just try and help!"

"Sam!" Cera yelled. "We can't do anything! I can see them regrouping as we speak! Come on!"

"Leave him behind!" Vulpix said. "There's no use for someone so selfish!"

"Sam," Judeau said.

Sam felt the Flaafy touching his shoulder. The boy turned to see his eyes full of sorrow and humility, a rare kindness he'd never seen before present in his expression.

"Come on kid," he said. "Either he made it or he didn't. There's no point in going through all of this just for him."

"Yeah," Jackson said. "If Leif did make it out alright, which he may have because he was so close to the entrance, he could possibly manage to find his way out. Leif does have better vision than us in the dark. If anyone could make it, Leif could."

Sam reluctantly stood up, turning away from the pile of boulders, following the Rock-types as they led the way. The boy saw the Rhyhorn carrying Brock's body on his back. Sam turned to the pile of rocks one last time before sighing and a flash of blonde hair and a cute smile flashed in his face again.

 _Responsible for the death of another._ He thought to himself.

{Leif}

Leif tugged at the scarf around his neck, noticing the burnt and torn spots around the edges of the black fabric. He sighed to himself, reminded how Vage would laugh at the scarf's damages, saying that meant it had character. He would have given anything for Leela's comforting pat on the back she gave him with her feathers. If she could see Leif now the Grovyle imagined that the Swellow would say how proud she was that he'd evolved.

Leif didn't really care for surface of the ground beneath, personally finding it too rocky as his feet wished to dig into the bark of a tree. However, as he looked around in the bright light that surrounded their party he found the illumination annoying. Ever since evolving, his vision had become astoundingly better. As a Treecko's he could see better than most at nighttime but as a Grovyle Leif was positive his vision must have been as keen of that as a bird of prey.

And, with his keen eyesight, Lief could make out human figures trailing them.

They'd only popped up recently, maybe as soon as they'd stumbled upon across the blood stains on the floor of the cave, but they were definitely following. The humans seemed to be dressed in mostly black as they blended fairly well into the darkness. They were far enough away so that they were safe within the darkness that Brock or Sam's prying eyes could not see them but Leif could see their silhouetted form well enough to know they were attempting to attack soon. Leif could also see Pokemon with them at the sides of some of them creeping along with their trainers.

Leif was sure that most everyone else could really see but to him he could make out that they were being gradually surrounded the farther along they were led by that Vulpix of the gym leader. Leif counted six in total and there may have been one other.

 _These Rockets._ Leif thought. _Their tactics at ambush are not unlike that of a Pokemon's in the forest. Careful to make sure their prey is in a position where escape is most mitigated. Clever. Unfortunately, they do not know that they are being counter-observed._

In fact, Leif could observe one brave human who was not thirty feet away, walking so carefully and silently as not to attract attention. She even seemed to be trying to get closer. Within a minute she was barely fifteen feet away, eyeing them. Leif looked at her with passive disdain before something on her chest glowed to him.

Emblazoned on the breast of her uniform was a red R that practically glowed in Leif's vision.

 _It…can't be._

Leif's mind went back to the fire, the inferno that consumed the forest's trees and its denizens, his friends Leela and Vage burning alive in a slow torture, their skin becoming as black charcoal as the sinew of their skin melted slightly at such great heat as they spent their last moments defending the forest they'd hoped to have saved, all while the humans in black stared at the forest with passive, yet calculating eyes.

The Grovyle almost fell over in shock and had to rebalance himself.

 _So you were the ones…_ Leif thought. _That killed my only friends…destroyed their spirit before you gave those selfless people an agony-filled death. You…well…I suppose this is ironic._

Leif looked at the woman, seeing her Poocheyena at her side and deciding he could take it out quickly.

 _This won't be noticed by Sam._ Leif thought to himself. _The noises of the surrounding Pokemon are too much and they'll assume it's just another one._

Leif listened intently to the conversation happening up front.

"…cave's too damn dark," Brock said. "And our Pokemon using Flash doesn't give us enough light to see very much past ten feet in front of us. We're about as trapped as can be, like rats in a cage."

"Damn," Judeau said with fear in his voice.

"Damn indeed," Brock replied.

 _My chance._

"Not entirely," Leif spoke up. "My night vision is superior to most of my other teammates'. If there was anyone trailing us, I could most definitely see."

Brock turned to him with a bit of a grin while Sam looked at him with worry.

"Good man," Brock said. "Sam, I see your Pokemon do in fact have your Pokemon speak up for you. They even think better than you do."

Leif and the rest of Sam's Pokemon let out a unison of grunts at him before leaving the circle of light created by Judeau and Vulpix. The Grovyle crept through the darkness, his eyes locked on the Rocket woman closest to them. She could see him coming but she did not attack and instead slowly backed away. Her Poocheyena snarled at him slightly.

 _Even at the threat of being endangered they do not wish to draw any unnecessary attention._ Leif said. _Again, very clever of them._

The Grovyle kept marching forward, the woman back-stepping steadily as the Poocheyena stood still, poised to attack.

"Leave your trainer to die," Leif said in human tongue taught to him by the Pokeball he'd been captured in. "And I won't lay a finger on you."

The Poocheyena seemed to stay loyal as bared his fangs and didn't move an inch.

"Very well," Leif replied as held up his wrists and focused.

As soon as he'd become a Grovyle, not only had Leif's body changed in extraordinary ways, he'd also learned a move or two. His body now stored small seeds buried deep within the pit of his stomach he could gather in his throat and fire at a moment's notice. But the trick he'd gotten most recently was as follows.

After concentrated the three leaves on his left wrist grew outward, converging into a single piece of foliage that was lighter green than originally. With three points the fan-like leaf grew to be around two feet long and razor sharp. When the human ordered her Poocheyena to attack Leif side-stepped the Dark-type's charge and went for its trainer.

With one swift motion the Leaf Blade cut into her stomach and with a small splash of blood fell over. The Poocheyena looked up at Leif with great annoyance.

"She was the one who gave me food!" he said. "Now what am I supposed to do?!"

"I'm sorry," Leif said. "Your master should have thought of that before attempting to kill my friends."

The Grovyle now noticed that he'd attracted attention from the other Rockets. They seemed paralyzed now, wondering what to do now that one of their own had been slain. Two Rockets decided to meander toward Leif. The Grovyle grew a second Leaf Blade from the trinity of leaves on his right wrists. He was poised to strike back before he noticed an odd sort of rumbling. He looked around to see that their party was not far from an arched entrance in the wall, obviously carved out by humans. And from within there the noise drifted into the rest of the cave.

Leif made a dash toward the entrance before seeing two human-shaped silhouettes attempting to block his path, their Raticate, Graveler and Ekans blocking his path.

 _I will not allow any of my friends to take the chance to risk their lives because of your selfish ambitions again, Team Rocket._ Leif roared to himself.

He let sail a Bullet Seed from his mouth, aimed at the two humans in front of him. They were struck by the seed pod in the head before collapsing as the Raticate and the coiled Ekans jumped at him. Leif dodged the Ekans but the Raticate struck him in the shoulder with its teeth, pinning him to the ground as blood poured from his wound.

He cried in pain before slashing the Raticate's paw of with his left wrist's Leaf Blade as it tumbled away. Leif outran the Ekans that was pursuing him by leaping forward. The Graveler in front of him launched pieces of its stony exterior at him in the form of small boulders to which he sliced in midair with Leaf Blade before running up to the Graveler and leaping clean over him. He then turned to Graveler and planted his palm squarely into the Rock-type's back, the tendrils from his hand absorbing some of the minerals in its body. The Graveler fell to the ground, holding itself up by two of its four arms. Leif noticed that the wound on his shoulder was healing up faster after he'd absorbed some of the Graveler's health.

"Sorry," he said. "But I needed that."

Leif then charged forward as he saw Brock and Sam's party being attacked by the Rockets' Pokemon. He was glad to note that, as they were being assaulted, it meant they couldn't advance much further. Leif leaped forward to stand in front of the tunnel's entrance. He noted at this distance no one could see what he was doing as Sam and his Pokemon were too far away. Brock was the closest but was too busy commanding his Rhyhorn.

Leif looked up at the cave ceiling to note that near the tunnel's entrance it was supported through artificial braces, mostly wood, that supported the earth above.

 _The area here was probably dug artificially._ He thought. _If I can destroy those braces with a Bullet Seed I can seal the exit from my friends getting through here as well as the other Rockets. And then no one would possibly die from that. However, the resulting braces falling could crush them. I imagine Brock's Rock-types will be fine but will Sam?_

He looked over to see that, for the most part, his friends were mostly not beneath the braced ceiling before the whole cave seemed to narrow in size to form the entrance to where the machinery noise was coming from. If Leif shot at it while they were still outside the artificial ceiling then maybe they could outrun it.

 _No!_ Leif thought to himself. _What are you thinking?! You could possibly kill them! Do you really want to risk that?!_

 _They would be risking their lives anyway._ Leif rebutted. _It could be very easy for Samuel to get himself killed as well as his Pokemon captured if he runs into Team Rocket any further. I can't allow another friend of mine to get that close to danger. No one will die under my watch again._

 _Deluding yourself._ He roared at himself. _All you want is revenge for what they did to your friends. You're need for revenge overrides any bond you have with these four._

 _I am right._ Leif said. _But that was because all the love my heart had for someone was taken that day. I have no more feelings to spare._

And with that his hesitation grew silent as he raised his neck to the ceiling, forced seeds from his stomach to travel up his throat, and fired at a rapid pace. The shells seemed to explode on impact when they hit the wood, causing the braces to crumble almost instantly.

Leif saw Sam immediately notice, calling his Pokemon back as soon as the earthen material crashed to the cave floor. The Grovyle loosed another Bullet Seed, this time making sure his aim was more correct as to allow the rock and soil to fall closer to the entrance itself.

 _This way no Rocket will ever arrive again._ He thought.

And as the earth fell from above with a great shaking, Leif turned and dashed on down the tunnel, already seeing silhouettes of Rockets appearing, their shadows cast in the bright light of the tunnel. The Grovyle held the Leaf Blades of his wrist out as he stepped closer to them.

Leif leaped right at them, meeting the two humans' confused faces with cut of his blades. He leaped over their Sandslash and Poocheyena and slashed their throats in. He dashed forward to meet the end of the tunnel to see a most disgusting sight.

He looked to see Rockets in black and gray suits they wore over their uniforms, with cages filled with captured Pokemon. Leif also saw them taking Rock-types, mostly Geodude, and hooking them up to brass siphons that were slowly draining them of their body's materials. The siphons led to large vats that slowly accumulate dark-colored dirt that filled the transparent containers. The machinery sound were the Rockets using miniature jackhammers and metal tools to dig the ore from the Rock-types, their bounty being siphoned back into separate vats. The Rockets were surrounded by their Pokemon as they worked.

Leif honestly went blind for a second with anger, his vision white and then black and before he could even comprehend what was going on, he was aiming Bullet Seeds at each and every Rocket he could see. By the time their Pokemon had gone running after the Grovyle in an effort to attack him, most of their trainers were already dead. Leif jumped over a wave of Normal and Ground-type Pokemon, before being slammed into by a Furret and bitten in the arm by a Houndour.

Leif jumped out of the reach of the Houndour before leaping onto a vat of minerals. He held his arm in pain, that bite wound doing a lot to hurt him as it pooled blood beneath his feet. He ducked an oncoming Ember before retaliating with Bullet Seed. Leif then jumped from the top of the vat to land in front of a cage. He knocked a Sandshew out of his way before looking at all the Pokemon in there.

There were Geodude, Larvitar, Cubone, Clefairy, even Paras trapped in many of the cages. Leif went to work hacking at the lock on the cage nearest to him with his Leaf Blade, having to slash it seven times before it broke. By that time he'd barely dodged an oncoming Ember, burning part of the cage. The Rock-types broke through the open cage door, clashing with the Rocket's Pokemon in a whirl of fighting.

Leif went to another cage door, hacking at the lock as fast as he could. However, Grass-type moves like Leaf Blade felt blunt when striking metal. It took him several more hacks than it should have with his weakened arm just to open another.

And the battles between Pokemon was not only growing fierce, but the wilds Leif had rescued were, in fact, losing. Since they were intentionally weakened by the Rockets to prevent them from busting out, they were beaten down quickly. Leif saw them smacked to the ground over and over by Pokemon who were still loyal to the Rockets while those who were no longer loyal fighting back against those who were, seeming to want to help others escape.

Leif slashed another lock apart and out came rushing more Pokemon that dashed off to fight a bloody battle.

 _I needed Sam's help._ He thought to himself as he hacked away at another lock. _I shouldn't have done this on my own. I've doomed these Pokemon because I was too stubborn to bring my trainer's party along with him. I'm a failure…again…_

After halfway slashing through the lock the Geodude in the cage ripped it open and freed them, with Leif falling to the ground in exhaustion, his Leaf Blades withdrawing back as the shape of their original foliage.

Leif tried standing back up but, as soon as he did, was attacked by another Houndour, this time shooting an Ember at him. The Grovyle side-stepped it but the large ball of flame singed the side of his body, nicking his tail. The Houndour would have shot another Ember but was pinned to the ground by a Cubone flailing its bone.

He stood back up, tired and panting before experiencing a rush of energy. It felt as though the center of his body was on fire, sending an electric power throughout his limbs. The energy flow seemed most present near the leaves on his wrists. Leif focused and grew them again, noticing the Leaf Blades were large and far sharper in shape.

 _I could get used to this._ He thought to himself.

Leif went away at hacking the lock on a separate cage, this time taking only four slashes before the Pokemon from within ran out free. Leif was glad to see that most of the Pokemon no longer loyal to the Rockets were outweighed the ones who fought against them and were now busting others from the cage and fighting off the Pokemon still loyal to the Rockets and the reason the Grovyle now saw them winning was because they had freed so many. The sheer number of Pokemon the Rockets had caught was their own downfall.

Soon, the loyal Pokemon had all but been killed or were now running for their lives down the tunnel, most of the human trainers lying dead on the ground. Leif sighed, groaning as he adjusted his torn arm, and walked to where the Pokemon had encircled the two remaining Rockets. A male human blocked the form of human woman cowering behind him.

"Please!" he screamed. "Spare us both! We beg of you!"

Almost everyone in the crowd behind cheered on their deaths, hungering for blood. The Grovyle was wondering what to do with them when a Rattatta jumped from the crowd and bit into the neck of the male, the female becoming the victim of a Pinsir. Leif sighed before they rabbled among themselves, many thanking the Grovyle for what they did.

"Do you know the way out of this place?" Leif asked.

"It's just at the end of this mine," the Mudkip who thanked him said. "From what I could see, most of the tunnels dug through here by the humans all lead out to the same entrance."

"I'll agree with what he said," a female Sandshrew said while wiping the blood off her paws. "I've lived here my whole life and whenever I need to leave the cave I can usually count on any tunnel dug by these humans to lead us out."

Leif saw that most of the Pokemon were walking in crowds down the mine. The Grovyle saw many taking Potions from off the bodies of trainers, healing themselves by spraying it on them. They also seemed to be trying to unhook the siphons clinging to the Geodude off before discovering it was too late for many of them. The vats storing the minerals garnered were smashed with their contents spilling out. The Sandshrew and Mudkip he was talking to were apparently waiting for their friends to bring them some of the medicine. Leif smiled to himself before being reminded the Pokemon he'd helped rescue had nowhere to go if they were not be from this area. And even then the horrors they'd witness would probably still scar them.

Leif rested as he sat on the ground. He was relieved to see a Cubone hand him a green Potion he'd retrieved from the humans, instructing the Grovyle to spray it on his burn wounds. The Pokemon surrounding him seemed content for the medicine to be applied to their body, the spray Potions working.

"We can't thank you enough," the Sandshrew said. "It's bad enough we had to be locked in those cages but day in and day out watching Pokemon be carried away and never seen again. I watched what they did to those Geodude…to think they did that without any emotion once-so-ever. I don't think they ever felt any remorse for what they did."

"At least you have a home to return to, Sylva," the Mudkip said. "My family's either dead or nowhere near here."

"Why is that?" Leif asked.

"Our river was being drained for the human's water supply," he said. "So we Mudkip and Marshtomp led an assault against the human's town. However, as hard as we fought back, most of us were captured. I saw my parents die and I've been locked up in here ever since. I don't have anywhere to return to."

"You could come with my trainer," the Grovyle said.

"You have a trainer?" the Mudkip asked.

He nodded.

"He's not as cruel as most humans are," Leif said. "He'll take good care of you."

"Well…" he spoke. "I don't have anywhere else to return to. And being with a human I have a good source of free food."

Mudkip dashed aside for a moment and came back with a blood stained Pokeball in his mouth.

"Let's go," he said.

"Fine," Leif replied. "I just need you to do one thing for me."

"What's that?" Mudkip asked.

"Don't talk to them about this," Leif said. "Don't speak of your escape and try to downplay it and my actions as little as possible. Got it?"

He nodded.

{Sam}

"How much farther do you think we'll need to go?" he asked.

"It shouldn't be much longer," the Onix said as a he ducked a particularly large stalactite. "Down through here the tunnels are dug mostly by Pokemon and have been continually added on for so long that there's any number shortcuts you could take to make it out. But we know this way the best."

Samuel noted with regret that besides the Onix, none of the Pokemon that formerly belonged to a gym leader were talking. They hardly spoke a word as their heads seemed to be hung in regret, most of them teary eyed. Sam was impressed as he wasn't sure if Rock-types you tear up.

"Um…thank you for leading us through here," Cera said. "I suppose we owe you our lives."

None of them spoke so much as a peep in response to the Smoochum, their pain muting them. Sam looked down at his feet as they shuffled against the cold, craggy surface of the cave floor. Guilt struck his chest like a blow by a blunt object.

 _You probably could have done something to prevent this._ He thought to himself. _You probably could have prevented this from happening…but you didn't. You were too much of a coward and too busy trying to flee in order to help Brock._

 _Shut up._ Sam told himself. _There was nothing you could have done so quit acting like there was. You couldn't have done anything to save his life and that moment was such a chaotic mess anyway that no one could have seen it coming. So don't blame yourself you little stain._

Sam felt even worse after talking to himself like that, the pain in his sternum not helped in the least. The boy looked down to each of his Pokemon to see that they weren't of much cheery countenance either.

 _So I guess we can agree to be miserable with each other._ He thought.

"Look out!" the Onix cried.

Sam instinctively whirled around to see a flock of blue winged creatures flying towards them. Everyone in their crowd was ransacked and hit by to oncoming Zubat. The Flying-types accidentally knocked Sam down they were flying so fast while he tried slapping them away. Judeau was firing the Thundershocks at them as fast as he could, watching their blackened corpses drop one-by-one while Cera used Powder Snow and the Rock-types used Rock Throw while Vulpix used Ember.

After the Flying-types passed over, or were driven off by the domestic Pokemon, Sam sat up to see with disgust the twitching dead Pokemon hurt by the ranged attacks. He sighed.

"Damned Zubats," the Geodude said. "We run into them every time we come into this damned cave."

"They're annoying parasites is what they are," Vulpix said.

Sam stood up before feeling something move beneath his feet. He lifted his foot in a hurry to see he'd stepped on a still-living Zubat's wing. It flopped around, its leathery right wing injured as it bled profusely. It shrieked screams of pain and confusion. Sam couldn't stand the sight, reaching into his bag to spray a bit of Potion onto its wing.

The Zubat hissed as it felt the spray flapping uncontrollably as it bounced on the ground several times.

"Leave it," the Geodude said. "There are millions of 'em and you could kill about five dozen without noticing a change."

"Anyone can say that about a Geodude, don't you think?" Sam said harshly.

"Shut up," the Geodude said. "Just leave it. That Potion won't work fast enough to heal it in time before a predator comes to get it."

Sam glared before taking a Pokeball from his backpack and capturing it in the transparent device. He minimized it before putting the adhesive side onto his waist.

"You think that thing will prove to be valuable on our team?" Judeau said.

"It will," Sam said. "You'll see."

It wasn't a minute after that capturing the injured Pokemon that light seemed to be far more visible than it had been before. Sam, upon initially discovering it, raised his forearm to shield himself from such brightness.

"I see the exit!" Judeau said.

Sam's Pokemon ran toward the tunnel's exit, overjoyed their trek through Mount Moon had ended. Samuel picked up the pace, though not quite as much as the Mankey or Smoochum did, and arrived at the mouth of the cave.

He was glad to see Mount Moon open with a view of a green meadow with daffodils and trees dotting the landscape with a river in the distance. The breeze made the view picturesque. However, the best thing Samuel admired about it was seeing a green figured slumping against a tree, a blue four-legged Pokemon at his side.

Sam and his Pokemon ran over to Leif in an instant. Upon closer inspection Samuel saw the Grovyle's arm was torn at and caked with dried blood with bruises dotting his sides and a visible, but healing burn on his body. The blue Pokemon had a blood-caked Pokeball in front of it

"Leif!" Judeau exclaimed.

"You're okay!" Jackson yelled.

"I'm fine," Leif said modestly. "Just a bit banged up by the Rockets. I also got this little Mudkip to follow me back."

"My name's Kalder!" he exclaimed with a large smile.

"You've apparently taken quite the beating," Sam said. "You're going into your Pokeball for the time being. And where'd this little guy come from?"

Leif smiled.

"He was held captive by the Rockets," the Grovyle said. "He managed to follow me back on his own."

"What was it like?" Cera asked.

Leif shook his head.

"I don't want to talk about it," he replied.

"Of course," she answered.

"Did you guys do alright?" the Grovyle asked.

"Yeah," Cera said. "We did for a while but Brock was killed in the cave-in."

"What?!" Leif asked.

"Brock was buried under some rubble and died as a result," Sam said.

Before he could respond any further, Sam returned Leif to his Pokeball before bending down to pet the little blue thing.

"So what are you?" Sam asked good-heartedly.

"I'm a Mudkip!" he said. "Leif told me you'd be a good trainer!"

"Good is subjective," Judeau said. "He didn't even know what species you were so he can't be that great."

"Don't listen to him," Sam said. "We'll take great care of you. I'm-"

"Sam," he said. "And the pink one's Cera, the Flaafy over there is Judeau and Jackson is the Mankey. Leif told me on the way here."

Sam smiled.

"Okay," he said. "Let's get to moving. We have no idea when the Rockets may be here so we'll need to leave immediately."

Sam then pointed at that river.

"You guys see that over there?"

"The water?" Jackson asked. "What about it?"

"From what my Pokedex tells me it's an artificial moat that keeps wild Pokemon away from the city," Sam said. "It also told me there's a boat that comes by every day that, at a small fee, will take us to Cerulean since it's headed there anyway."

"Okay," Cera said. "In the meantime could we have some lunch?"

"I think I have something left in my bag," Sam said as he fished through it.

After bringing out some food for them to share from the tins. Sam looked over at the cave's entrance to see Brock's Pokemon had left already.


	16. Chapter 16

{Kalder}

The six of them sat around in a circle as the large ferry rolled by. He noticed Sam had brought Leif out and sprayed his arm with a Potion, helping heal it a lot better. A Zubat with a healing wing rested beside Jackson, wrapping its leathery wings around itself as though it were seeking protection.

All of them sat in an almost mournful silence and Kalder couldn't tell why. He was usually not bad at reading the emotions of other Pokemon but for the life of him he couldn't tell why. Maybe Samuel was causing it and he couldn't tell how.

The Mudkip always thought humans were a strange sort of folk, unlike Pokemon keeping secrets close to their heart that would be better if they just shared with others as well as paranoid of the intention of those around them. He never really imagined one could be very trustworthy. However, Sam seemed to be normal in his eyes though and friendly, but he could easily tell behind that frame of mind he was slowly screaming on the inside, wishing somebody would hold him.

Kalder could never really explain _why_ he felt that way about Sam, just a strong hunch. The way he seemed to look off into the distance blankly at times, his eyes both anxious with…regret, he supposed as well as fear that he could never be rid of. He also seemed meek as when he sat he looked as though he was trying to withdraw in on himself and make himself as little noticeable as possible. The Mudkip himself couldn't really explain why he felt that, just a hunch.

Everyone else around him was no better.

While he couldn't really say much for the Zubat pressed against the floor of the ship and looking as though it could have died from sheer fear, Cera, the Smoochum as they called her, didn't look all that different from Sam. She looked unhappier than Sam, the way her eyes lulled as though she could be thinking fears that concerned the near future or something she also put into the back of her head to think about as little as possible. Her misery was more apparent. Jackson the Mankey seemed to be somewhat composed, her expression firm and reasonable, but stiff and tense at the same time. The Flaafy's eyes were sharp, a certain skepticism to them as if he were too jaded to believe the people around him even gave a damn. He seemed slightly angry at all times, a foul-mood usually omnipresent with his composure. It was a bit sad to see. Leif, however, took the cake for anger. It wasn't obvious but his hatred was like Judeau's foulness, constant and unending. Kalder sometimes felt as though he'd have to watch or Leif may, out of sheer spite, kick him. And beneath that anger lied a great regret.

Kalder himself knew from day one that no one would like him if he told anyone this, so he simply smiled at all times, as though he was trying to pretend he didn't see anything wrong. He had to be chipper at all times because no one liked being around someone so negative.

Kalder stood up from where he laid, looking around at what might temporarily distract them. Then he remembered something he saw.

"Hey, guys," he said. "I think I saw some Water-type Pokemon following us our ferry. You want to go check with me?"

Sam smiled nervously.

"Of course I will, Kalder," he said. "Anyone else?"

Most everyone, except the Zubat, nodded in agreement. The Zubat hopped onto the shoulder the Mankey, still frightened and not speaking to anybody in human or Pokemon. The six of them looked over the deck, watching the watery brine's current wash below them in small waves. Kalder was right, there was a Seel, a Dewgong and a Staryu swimming next to the boat's bottom.

"I didn't know Water Pokemon would do that," Mankey said. "You think they're trained?"

"Probably," Sam replied. "The gym leader here uses Water-types. Since this moat was created to keep wilds from getting into the city then it wouldn't be much of a stretch to guess that her trainers probably employ their Pokemon to patrol the waters in groups."

"I'd say that's likely," Cera said. "From what the Professor told me about Cerulean City, the gym leader's some kind of young genius who was great at engineering and played a major role in its construction."

"Oh, hey!" Judeau said. "We're stopping!"

Sam looked to see that the Flaafy was right, the ferry was docking on the port of the city. The city looked fairly urban to Kalder, not many skyscrapers but plenty of buildings as it sat on an island, isolated by the surrounding water except for the large bridge that connected it to the mainland. Sam returned the Zubat to its Pokeball before the five of them walked toward the crowd as they began to get off on the ramp that connected to the island.

Kalder was glad to know that after leaving the ferry that Sam had led his Pokemon away from the crowds, taking out a red device to look at.

"What's that?" the Mudkip asked.

"A Pokedex," Cera explained. "It's supposed to help Sam identify Pokemon but he uses it mostly as a map."

"I'm trying to figure out where the Pokemon Center is," the boy explained as he led them down the street of the city. "We rent a room and then we'll see if we can't do some training for our up-and-coming gym battle."

"A gym…battle?" Kalder asked.

"A gym is where the strongest trainer, usually of military authority, trains subordinate's Pokemon for combat," Cera answered. "They're called the gym leader and if a trainer manages to beat them they usually earn a lot of money for it."

"Money?" Kalder said. "You mean that stuff humans use…I think in exchange for stuff?"

"That's the stuff," Judeau said dryly. "Sam here thinks that if he can win enough of it he'll be able to afford us all a home so we won't have to fight anymore."

"Unfortunately," Sam said. "Houses in the Kanto region usually of any worth are a bit on the expensive side, so we'll need to battle gyms if we want to ever settle down."

The six of them passed the streets with each of them looking at the city. Kalder had to admit the human constructs he saw were pleasant to look at as the buildings, for the most part, were large and obviously well-built but were not big or tall enough to be overpowering. The buildings were mostly wooden made through excellent craftsmanship. There was a certain welcoming presence the city had all to its own. Kalder could see there was an abundance of gardens from which bloomed fruit trees and herbs fed by pumps at the center of them. However, Kalder knew the dark-side to this prosperity.

 _They probably made that moat by redirected nearby rivers or other bodies of water to also feed their crops and water supply._ He thought. _Depriving other Pokemon of that water as a result._

Sam stopped at the front of a red roofed building.

"Hey, here we are!" he exclaimed.

They walked through the door for Kalder to glance curiously at the room around him. Trainers with Pokemon at their sides filled the building as the five of them had to wait in line behind several other humans. Before walking up to the female attendant behind the desk, Sam returned all of his Pokemon to their Pokeballs one at a time. Once inside, Kalder curled up inside the transparent ball, falling asleep soon.

 _I suppose I could get used to this._ He thought.

{Cera}

Cera was glad to see her wounds had healed, for the most part, after the healing at the Pokemon Center. She saw her friends around her looking better as well.

"Okay guys," Sam said. "While they're preparing us dinner for tonight we're going to look at the room we rented. Kalder, we usually sleep on a mattress at night so it's either that or the floor. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure it is!" the Mudkip replied. "I've seen human beds before and I always thought they looked comfortable!"

"Really?" Cera asked inquisitively. "When did you get that close to human civilization?"

The Mudkip sighed.

"When I was younger humans were mostly at peace with us," he said. "We didn't really bother each other and friends of mine even got to sneak into human cities and look around every so often just for the fun of it! However, that peace soon disappeared when more Newcomers came."

"Oh," Cera said bashfully.

"Yeah," he said. "It was a bit of a surprise but once Pokemon started arriving in droves."

"Does that mean you're a Generational?" she asked.

Kalder shook his head.

"No," he said. "My family's herd and I came by sea after our own region experienced… _problems_. While we Mudkip prefer freshwater we can swim through saltwater well enough. After fighting native Pokemon for food and territory long enough we finally found a place at a large river to settle down in. Humans didn't really bother us. However, it was only after more herds Newcomers came in that we started experiencing land disputes with humans. They retaliated by trying to rapidly urbanize the surrounding area and build better roads. Once they tried to take our water we attempted to fight back but us Mudkip got crushed pretty bad."

"Wow," Sam said. "I didn't know the problem with Pokemon migration was _that_ messed up."

"It is a pretty delicate, complex subject Samuel," Cera replied. "There are plenty of Pokemon like Kalder who had no choice but to flee their home. It…it's kind of-"

"Harsh?" Kalder answered. "Yeah, but at least I made it out alright. The rest of my brethren aren't doing so well. Most got either killed or captured"

"Interesting story."

Cera and the others turned around to see a boy with spikey brown hair and a serious expression staring at them walking out from one of the rooms for rent. A Magby stood at his side, looking bashfully at Cera.

"Alex," Sam said surprised.

"I see you've kept all you're Pokemon alive," Alex said. "I know I've lost some along the way."

"What do you want, Alex?" Sam asked.

"I thought we might have a battle," he said. "We haven't seen one another since I was just about to go into Viridian Forest."

"I don't want to put my Pokemon in any unnecessary danger," he said.

"Fine," he said. "It'll be for no money. Just a friendly battle."

Cera felt unsafe as she saw Sam agree. She looked at Arthur who looked as though he longed to talk to her but she felt conflicted. The Magby walked over to her as Sam, his party and Alex left the Pokemon Center, looking sheepish.

"Cera?" he asked. "Have…have you been alright?"

"Fine," she replied. "And you?"

"Not so good," Arthur replied. "We lost Gold, our Pikachu the other day as well as Slimy our Grimer. Alex took it pretty hard, even going so far as to replace the Zubat…"

He trailed off.

"Cera are you sure you're willing to go this far?" he asked. "I mean, you can't be sure they're even-"

"I told you I would go whether you wanted me to or not," she answered. "Why don't you just respect that?"

"Because I miss you," Arthur said. "You were the only thing I really looked forward to everyday. That and going on excursions with the Professor."

"I'm just glad to have left," she said. "Oak was a harsh taskmaster. He never really seemed to care about others feelings, even-"

"I know," Arthur replied.

Cera and Arthur separated as Sam and Alex stood apart from each other. Alex stood at the foot of the bridge while Sam and his party were near the edge of the street.

{Kalder}

"To give you a bit of a handicap," the boy said. "I'll let you go first, Sam."

"Fine with me," he replied. "Either way, my team can pull a win out."

"Arthur, get out there!" Alex ordered.

The Magby stepped forward. The Mudkip recognized the red Pokemon as Fire-type and walked up to Samuel.

"Sam," Kalder said. "Could I fight this Magby?"

"Sure," Sam said with an elated smile. "After all, water does beat fire, doesn't it?"

The Mudkip smiled with relief and marched forward, facing the Fire-type before Alex called the first move.

"Alright Arthur, use Sunny Day!"

Magby raised its hands, a ball of gloomy smoke and light appearing from between its palms that it threw skyward. Kalder had to glance away because the sunlight around them was so bright that it slightly obscured his vision.

"Now Arthur, use Fire Punch!" Alex commanded.

The Magby's hand became consumed with a red flame as he charged Kalder.

"Use Water Gun!" Sam ordered. "I guess! You are a Water-type after all!"

From the loose water held all through-out Kalder's body, he channeled some into his gut before firing a strong cannon of clear liquid at Arthur. It splashed against him, sending light steam from where it made contact with his body with an audible hiss.

 _What?_ Kalder thought to himself. _That should be doing more to a_ Fire-type _at least._

The Magby punched Kalder with his flame-engulfed fist.

Kalder cried in pain as he was flung back. He got up but fell back down as noticed the Fire Punch had made blackened his side. Pain hissed from the wound as the burning sensation was very real.

"Kalder!" Sam cried. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Kalder said. "Sam, I think that ball of whatever that Magby flung into the air reduced the force of my Water Gun, probably evaporating the water."

"That makes sense!" Cera yelled. "Sunny Day is a technique that intensifies sunlight for a short period of time! It's been known to reduce the power of Water-type moves!"

"Sounds convenient," Sam said. "Alex probably knew he had a good shot at taking on my team with ease, which is why he didn't bother to pick second."

"Not only that," Cera said. "But Fire-type moves have their power increased in the harshened sunlight!"

"Damn," Sam said. "Kalder, do you want to switch out?"

Kalder turned around.

"No!" the Mudkip said. "If I have the type advantage and am having trouble, what chance do you guys have?!"

"He's right," Judeau said. "Kalder battling him or not, it'd be harder to take Arthur on now since he has Sunny Day."

"Sam!" Kalder said. "Let me take over! I can handle this since I know my moves better than you do!"

"Hah!" Alex said. "Don't do it Samuel! You need to take charge of your Pokemon! Leadership's extremely important and you need to learn it to grow stronger!"

"Shut up!" Kalder yelped. "Nobody needs to hear you!"

Kalder glared at his opponent, seeing Magby, while still strong, had in fact taken damage. The Mudkip smiled.

"Magby!" Alex yelled. "Fire Punch again!"

Arthur ran at him with another fire fist but Kalder had already taken a bit of soil he'd scooped into his mouth, mixed it with the water in his system, and fired a blob of it the Magby. It hit just where Kalder aimed it, directly at his eyes. The Magby stumbled backward before Kalder fired another Water Gun that knocked him on his back. Arthur attempted to stand back up but was blinded by the Mud Slap to which Kalder took the advantage of, tackling him.

Arthur skidded to the ground, laying on his chest. Alex returned Magby to the Pokeball before holding up another one.

"Ready for round two?" Alex asked.

"Kalder, you think you can stay in?" Sam asked rather politely.

The Mudkip flashed him a wide smile.

"Sure can!" he said.

Alex flung another Pokeball forward to produce a Golbat.

"Use Wing Attack!" he ordered.

The Golbat flew at Kalder so that it was almost ground level. Kalder attempted to spray it down with another Water Gun but the Flying-type dodged it without trouble. Kalder jumped out of the way of the Golbat's wing before it looped around to come back for another attack.

Kalder attempted another Water Gun but Golbat was too fast, effortlessly flew astride it and hit the Mudkip in the neck with the edge of its wing. Kalder was flung backwards after being rammed into by the appendage.

"Kalder, return!" Sam cried.

{Judeau}

Sam recalled the wounded Water-type to his Pokeball.

"Judeau," he said. "You're up."

The Flaafy smiled before running up to where Kalder had stood, readying its electricity held within his wool.

"Return," Alex said.

The Pokeball took the Golbat in with a red light before Alex flung another ball forward, this time producing a Granbull.

"Hey!" Sam shouted.

"What?" Alex retorted. "I never said no substituting. Just roll with it."

Judeau glared at Alex while electricity sparked from his hide.

"You cheating bastard!" Flaafy yelled. "You bring out that blue flying Rattatta so I can kick its ass like you're afraid I'll do!"

"Granbull!" Alex said with a grand sweep of his arm. "Crunch!"

The purple dog-like Pokemon ran at the Flaafy, its fangs with anticipation and a readiness to chomp into his flesh.

"Look out!" Sam said with worry.

Judeau pulled at his mouth.

"Roll with it, eh?" he said to himself.

He loosed more electricity from his wool and channeled it into his arm just as the Granbull was inches from coming down on him with his large fangs.

"Fine by me," he said.

The Granbull chomped down onto nothing before noticing Judeau had sidestepped its attack. The Flaafy then slammed his electrified fist into the Pokemon, yellow lightning engulfing its body before collapsing to the ground with a puff of smoke coming from its mouth. Alex looked at him surprised to meet Judeau's apathetic expression.

"What?" he asked. "Want to try again?"

{Sam}

Alex returned his Granbull to its ball before he sighed.

"You've won, Samuel," he said. "Your Pokemon have proven more competent and better at battle than mine."

" _Oh_ ," Judeau said. "How humble. You pretend like you just want a friendly competition, go full force with your Pokemon, discover you're on the losing end, and _then_ you back out. Truly a hero."

"Be quiet," Alex said. "Samuel."

"What?" Sam asked before gesturing for Judeau to join them as he ran over.

Alex stepped away from the foot of the bridge before sighing.

"Not so strong now," Samuel said gruffly. "Are you?"

"Samuel," he said. "How many badges do you have?"

"One," he answered. "The Boulder badge from Pewter City. What of it?"

"I have two," Alex said. "The Boulder badge as well as the Cascade badge, the one you earn from this city's gym."

Samuel smiled.

"Gives me confidence," he said. "If my Pokemon can defeat yours then I should be a shoe-in to win."

"Maybe," he said. "Or maybe it doesn't have anything to do with my Pokemon's strength _how_ I won."

Sam, Cera, Leif, Judeau and Jackson all looked at Alex as though he'd said he was a Snorlax in disguise.

"Excuse me?" Cera asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "I didn't battle Misty or Brock and I still have their gym badges."

"Did you win money?" Samuel asked.

"I got some cash in return for my services," Alex said.

"Did you steal them?" Judeau asked. "Hey, Sam, maybe we should take ques from this guy and steal their money."

"No!" Alex retorted. "Samuel, I know that you're in this for the money…but the thing is there are bigger things at stake than you can realize."

"How so?" Samuel asked.

"Samuel," Alex said. "Do you know that if you have…oh, I can never remember the number, seven? Yes, seven, you can actually enter the Indigo Plateau's annual Tournament?"

"What?!" Sam burst. "You can?!"

"What's Indigo…what?" Judeau asked.

"It's-" Sam attempted before Alex cut him off.

"It is a tournament set up by the four ruling emperors of Kanto," he said. "To decide who rules the continent. Each year, trainers from all over gather to face the Elite Four, the formal term for the emperors when concerning military strength, in formal Pokemon battles in a wide stadium at the Indigo Plateau, between the southern tip of Kanto and the Silver Mountain Range. That is where they compete six on six with each of the emperors' party one at a time. If anyone manages to beat an Elite Four they replace that emperor as the new one."

"What?!" Judeau asked. "You can't be serious! A Pokemon battle determines who runs this place?! That's crazy!"

"It is how our nation is run," Alex said. "Kanto has held tournaments such as these by tradition for nearly as long as the Indigo Plateau has been around. Kanto has also relied upon military strength more than anything in the last few decades or so and to maintain that presence it needs strong military rulers, generals capable of wielding immense power on and off the battlefield."

"You need to see the flaw in that thinking, Alex," Cera said. "If only the strongest trainers are allowed to rule Kanto that means that only those with enough lust for battle and desire to conquer rule as emperor. That's a reason Kanto has been at war for so long."

"Yes," Alex said. "And I agree. It is very flawed and all one has to do to be an emperor is defeat a current emperor. It is incredibly flawed. However, it actually creates stagnation more than anything else as Elite Four are almost always in some kind of fight and leading their troops so the immense strength of their Pokemon is almost always added on top of over the course of years, meaning most trainers take that much longer to catch up. It's usually years before an emperor is replaced and our current Elite Four are no exception. However, I dare say the strongest ranking at the top isn't really a human concept near as much as it as a universal one. If I'm correct most gatherings of Pokemon are ruled by the strongest of their herd."

Judeau snorted angrily at him. It was that was the way it was with every Pokemon herd, including his own as the strongest of the Flaafy ruled over and led his or her herd, but he'd be damned if he admitted that to a human.

"And so what does that have to do with you collecting gym badges?" Sam asked. "Without having to fight gym leaders with Pokemon?"

"Some of us want that position as an emperor of Kanto," Alex said. "Some more than others."

"So?" Sam asked. "Doesn't that just mean you need to train your Pokemon to be stronger than everyone else's? Doesn't that mean you should test them more?"

"Yes," Alex said. "I do train my Pokemon as often as I can. I do in fact even spar with gym leaders to make them stronger. But I don't battle them for the badge."

"And how's that?" Sam asked. "How do you get that badge?"

"I work for them," Alex said. "Day and night I spend in their gyms, doing whatever they ask me. And, in exchange for me and my Pokemon's services, they give me something I need to become a good emperor and rule with strength."

"And what would that be?" Sam asked.

"Knowledge," he said. "They tutor me and I gain wisdom I would have never otherwise known. They tell me things they've seen in their years and give me advice of what to do when I rule. They establish contacts for me so I can get in contact with whomever I need to. I'll come back to these gym leaders when I need to so they can share even more knowledge with me. So you see Samuel, my journey's goal is not so much for the sake of glory or even just money. It's about me being able to become the wise ruler previous winners of the Indigo League's tournament will not be."

"That's a pretty good reason to go on a journey then," Sam said. "But don't think I'm your rival. I don't want to compete in that tournament. I just want to settle down."

Alex glared at Samuel before turning away.

"I know," Alex said. "You don't care whatever happens to anyone in this country. So long as you yourself are safe."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

"Do you remember how my parents died?" he asked.

Sam couldn't look at Alex in the face anymore.

"They…they were killed in the very first raid that Pallet Town experienced," Sam said.

There was a particularly fierce assault the Johto army had that pushed past the Silver Mountain Range that the Fuschia City Gym and the Viridian City Gym joined forces to defend against. The citizens of Viridian City evacuated in time but…many residents of Pallet didn't. Sam's mother as well as the Professor had told him this before and after the attack took place.

His mother also told him to never mention words like 'parents', 'family', or 'relatives' around Alex or the Professor because of their deaths. Alex and Daisy, his sister, would have been orphaned if it had not been for their grandfather taking them in. Sam could also remember a time when Alex was happier and not always looking like his default expression was that of suppressed, but intense anger like it was now. It didn't take much of a genius to figure out what caused that change of face.

"I want to become an Elite Four to prevent that from happening again," Alex said. "I want have enough by just replacing one of them, so I'll just have to beat every single one of them. Then I can establish ultimate rule over the Indigo Plateau. I will bring this pointless conflict with Johto to a halt."

"But Alex," Cera said. "The war, as I was told by the professor, was because the Johto government would not allow any of Kanto's population to move to their continent to escape the overcrowding caused by Pokemon immigration to Kanto. Since they wouldn't allow them any escape, Kanto waged war to grab up as much land as possible for their citizens to move to."

Alex glared sharply at her.

"I don't want to say that I'm a warmonger," Cera said. "But I can understand that it comes from a reasonable need. You talk as though the military have no reason to be engaged in a conflict at all. If Kanto citizens are using the conquered lands to establish new lives for themselves without being hampered by competition by wild Pokemon as he told me, doesn't the war help at least some?"

"That's what my grandfather told you, eh?" Alex asked. "I've been collecting data and researching our government's movements for almost half a decade from what my grandfather allowed me. I've also been talking with to Misty, the gym leader here, as well as Bill."

"Bill?" Sam asked. "You mean, _the_ Bill? Creator of the PC system that runs throughout half or more of Kanto?"

Alex nodded.

"He doesn't live that far from here," he said. "Near a bay just on the other side of this bridge. I just got a ticket from him for the SS Anne. If you're willing to pay about, say, sixteen hundred dollars or so he'll give you a ticket too. If you want to try."

"The SS Anne?" Cera cried.

Sam smiled, elated.

The SS Anne was a group of ships that would take passengers by a hundred or so and ship them to conquered lands in the Johto region. It was said to be safe as they were usually guarded by military-trained Pokemon and had a lot of agrarian land from which to grow food. However, because they could only ship so few at a time excess tickets were rare in manner and very expensive. They were highly sought after and practically valued above money because the Johto region was so profitable for everyone who came.

"You…you really did get a ticket?" Sam asked.

Alex rolled his eyes.

"I got one," he said. "But do you have enough money for it?"

His smile disappeared as calculations sprung to his head wildly.

"Um…I think we have around nine hundred or so," Sam said. "Maybe more."

Alex snorted with a suppressed laugh.

"Forget it," he said.

Sam shook his head in anger.

"How much money was the gym leader here offering as a prize for defeating her?" Sam asked.

"You mean Misty?" Alex asked. "Hmm…I think it may have been a thousand, maybe more. If you can beat her maybe you'll win."

Sam grinned.

"You guys here that?" Sam cried. "We may be able to leave aboard the SS Anne after all! We'll just have to train enough before we face her down!"

"Good luck with that," Alex said. "The SS Anne leaves in ten days in Vermillion Harbor located in Vermillion City. You'll be lucky get to the city in just four or five days so I don't want you to think you can get there in time."

"We can!" Sam said.

Alex walked past the boy before remarking:

"If you want to get stronger, be my guest," he said. "There are some trainers on this bridge you're required to battle if you want to fight Misty in her gym. If you beat them all they'll sign you up for a match with her. Beyond that may be some patrolling trainers who may pick a fight with you."

Alex then shrugged and left.

Samuel turned to his Pokemon with a wide grin.

"You guys here that?!" he said. "We may be able to make it to the SS Anne!"

"What's that?" Judeau, Leif, Kalder and Jackson asked.

{Kalder}

Kalder blasted back a charging Nincada with Water Gun just as Jackson beat back an advancing Pineco with a Mega Kick, a move that she had said she learned from her training with Leif. The human girl sighed to herself at the sight of her defeat before marking something down on a clipboard with a pencil.

"You're good to go to the final challenger," she said before returning her defeated Pokemon to their Pokeballs.

Sam leaned squatted down to look at the both of them as he patted them on the head.

"That was great guys!" Sam said. "Keep this up and we'll be ready for the gym in no time!"

"I have to say Kalder, you're pretty strong for someone who just joined our group," Jackson said.

"Thanks," Kalder said. "My older sister taught me how to fight for the most part. Other than that I just have a lot of battle experience from defending our river."

"Even if we're not getting any money from these battles," Sam said. "It's great we're already on our fifth challenger without as much as a scratch on you guys."

"Hope you're right," Judeau said. "Here he comes now."

Kalder turned forward along with everyone else to see a man in a red shirt and khaki pants greet them with a wave of his hand.

"Hello," he said with a spirited smile. "You the new challenger to Misty?"

"Yeah," Samuel said. "That's me."

"You beat every one of her challengers?" he asked. "No mistake?"

"That's right!" Kalder replied spiritedly.

"Strong trainer then," he said. "Could I offer you a job?"

Kalder looked to see Sam's eyes go wide.

"A job?" Sam asked. "Um…of what kind?"

"I can tell you what it pays," he said. "For our more seasoned trainers you could be making up to nine thousand dollars a month. If you're not so lucky you could even be making a minimal three thousand. Benefits for yourself and your family are quite luxurious, with us being able to take care of them with a wide section of health care and personal safety. Stick with us, and you won't have to worry again."

"Hmm," Sam said. "My mom…she may be able to have some better medicine as she gets older…maybe I could extend to the professor…the least I could do for all he's done for us…well, I guess. What's your organization called?"

"Team Rocket," Kalder said.

The man turned to the Mudkip as well as Sam and his Pokemon.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Team Rocket?" Cera cried.

"The riverbanks my group lived in were invaded by the Rockets," Kalder said. "I wasn't aware of it at the time I could see some humans I made as friends be coaxed into working for an organization they wouldn't specifically name. My fellow Mudkip and I were shocked when we found those same human trainers attacking us in the black uniform with an R on it. They called themselves the Rockets."

The man in red made a passive glare as he stepped backward.

"Don't be like my friends were, Samuel," he said. "Don't fall prey to his petty schemes."

Sam looked enraged at the man, his eyes full of fury.

"The Rockets?" Sam asked. "You work for them? Why?"

"I never said that," he said. "Your Mudkip is mistaken."

"I'm not!" Kalder replied. "They used almost the same speech to convince my friends. I never felt so sickened to see myself facing off against those I'd formerly befriended. And all because of those fuckers!"

"You know the Rockets tried to kill us beforehand," Judeau said, electricity dangerously coursing his wool. "I don't see why we wouldn't try to return the favor."

The man raised his hands in mild fear and defeat.

"I concede," he said. "I'll back off."

"He hasn't attempted to attack us yet," Jackson said. "We don't have to kill him."

"We can still turn him into the police," Sam said. "He deserves worse the slave-selling, Pokemon and child kidnapping cunt…but I guess that'll be enough."

He turned around and broke out into a run.

"Jackson," Sam said. "Go get him. You don't have to hurt him much, just prevent him from running any further."

The Mankey obliged, running as fast as she could at him before as he ran past a grassy slope just near the end of the bridge. However, out from behind the slope appeared a Koffing who spat a large blob of puke-green slime at Jackson. She gagged in pain before falling to the ground and was then tackled, sending her skidding across the bridge.

"Seviper!" the Rocket called. "Poison Tail!"

Out from beneath the bridge appeared a snake the must have been at least ten feet long with gold and black skin and red fangs as long human arms. It held its diamond-shaped tail out that seeped with black poison before slashing wildly. It cut Cera.

"Ah!" she screamed and fell to the ground, her wounding seeping black poison and scarlet blood.

"Cera!" Everyone yelled as she struggled to stand up.

"You know," the Rocket recruiter said as Jackson staggered toward Sam and fellow Pokemon. "If you hadn't attempted to attack me I wouldn't done the same to you. However, I've got to kill you now."

"You're not killing anyone!" Kalder said.

He gathered the moist dirt he still had in his body before mixing it with water and shooting it at the Seviper that towered over all of them. The gigantic snake easily dodged it before returning the attempted attack with a Poison Tail. Kalder's entire left side was slashed open. The force of the blow knocked him off the bridge and he splashed into the water.

Kalder looked up at the surface faintly, the light glittered into his eyes before it became clouded dark with his blood. The blood resulting from his wounds attracted a Tentacool that attempted to wrap a long, gray limb at him, constricting against his throat. He felt like he could hardly breathe, his vision going dull...

{Sam}

Sam leaned over the bridge, looking at the bubbling spot where Kalder had fallen into, watching the gray tentacle wrap near the surface. The boy held his head over the side of the bridge as tears streamed from his face, a horrid expression proceeding from it. He turned around to glare at the Rocket recruiter in the face before yelling.

"He killed Kalder!" Sam said. "Kill him now!"

"Koffing, Seviper!" he ordered. "Take care of his Pokemon."

The Koffing was the first to spring into action, shooting shots of disgusting gunk from its dumb grin. Judeau fired Thundershock at the Sludge to intercept them before they hit anyone while Leif attempted to run their trainer. However, the Seviper caught him in an instant, wrapping the end of its tail around his arm and smashed him into the bridge, creating a wide crater in the wood. Cera attempted to use Confusion against the Seviper and, while it did lose its grip of the Grovyle's limb, Cera had to stagger back as the poison took its toll on her body. Jackson staggered toward the Seviper weakly, the poison slowly killing her as well. Sam quickly returned the Mankey to her Pokeball as he knew she could do little against two Poison-types.

Leif and Cera were trying to keep out of range of the Seviper's swinging Poison Tail. The Grass-type was doing better on account of being faster and not poisoned so Cera had to stay back and fight from a distance. She actually managed to throw the gigantic snake several times as well as apparently hit its brain in the right places with a Confusion attack but it still seemed resilient. That and the poison was weakening her by the moment.

Sam returned the Smoochum to her Pokeball before releasing her again. She laid on the ground, a large gash in her side as she lay still, breathing hard. Sam dug around in his bag for an antidote and a potion as he scrambled to apply them.

"Come on," he said. "You're the only here whose of any real good."

He saw the antidote start working but the potion would take more time as the wound was scabbing over slowly.

"I'll be fine," Cera said slowly.

Sam looked around to see Leif had been tossed to the side of the bridge, a deep gash in his stomach as black poison seeped from it. He was on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. The Seviper charged at him before jumping backward to avoid a Thundershock. Sam saw a Flaafy covered in puke green slime making his way to the gigantic snake, staggering forward as we obviously poisoned.

"Get off him yeah overweight Ekans," Judeau said with his speech slightly slurred. "Before I have cook you for a broth tonight."

"What a clever insult," the Seviper said as he held the razor sharp end of his tail at the Electric-type that dripped with an ink-like liquid. "But get any closer and _I'll_ have to see poke you full of toxins."

"Heh!" Judeau said with a grin. "I was already poisoned by your kickball shaped friend so I needn't fear it. 'Sides, I already blackened him like an overcooked turnip. He burst like a watermelon full of vomit. Want me to do the same to you?"

The Seviper bared his fangs before a splash of water caught their attention. Jumping out in a geyser of water was a two-legged Water-type that carried a black fin on its head on its posterior. In mid-air it rained bullets of mud onto the gigantic black snake who crashed into the bridge. Once the Marshtomp landed onto the bridge he continued pelting the Seviper with hard packed, wet earth and each hit sounded like it was breaking bone as it made impact. Once the Seviper had made another crater in the wooden bridge Kalder turned around to the Rocket recruiter who looked on at him in fear.

"Kalder!" everyone cried.

"How did you survive?!" Judeau asked.

"While enough experience in battle can force a Pokemon to evolve," he said. "So can high emotion. And some of the best fuel for that transformation is raw, unadulterated anger."

Kalder took a step forward, causing the man to run. However, the Marshtomp easily ran him down before pinning him to the ground with one solid stomp. Sam ran towards him, his Pokemon following.

"Please!" he said. "Please! I've hardly ever hurt anyone! I don't steal or kidnap! I just wanted to feed my family! Please spare me! If not for me than my wife and children!"

Kalder applied more force to his foot to which the man screamed in pain.

"So you want me to let you go on the account you were just trying to help your family?" he asked. "Never hurt anyone, eh? Well, maybe you should have thought differently before recruiting for an organization that will make humans mercilessly slaughter Pokemon!"

Kalder took his foot off the man just to stomp on the man's leg, a sickening crunch being audible.

"Oh-hahhahha!" he screamed.

Sam pulled at Kalder's arm to which the Marshtomp shook off before Cera gripped his leg whom he pushed back. Judeau and Leif, however, seemed content with standing by and watching.

"Kalder!" Sam yelled.

"Are you going tell me to let him get off scot-free even though he's probably ruined the lives of hundreds if not thousands?" he asked.

"I'm saying we could get information out of him about the whereabouts of Team Rocket and what he's doing here," he said. "If we turn him into the police then they could question him and get even more information out of him."

"I won't tell a thing!" he said. "I swear I won't!"

Kalder kicked the man in the ribs to which yelled out in agony.

"Fine," he said. "But before long I'm gonna break his other leg. It'll heal and he won't need a good leg if he's going to try and run away."

{Cera}

The Smoochum sighed to herself, walking away from the recruiter. He was leaning up against a sheer slope cliff as he glared at her with passive fury. Cera couldn't help but look down at his legs.

 _I think I'd be mad too if both my legs had been broken._ She thought.

Cera walked over to where Sam and the rest of his Pokemon stood. Everyone looked like they were on edge as the five of them looked down at the ground, somewhat bored until she walked up. They looked slightly more relief.

"Did you get any information out of him?" Jackson asked.

"I actually did," Cera said elated. "My psychic powers are actually more developed than I thought. I was able to read his mind and see he was waiting for anyone to show up who could defeat all those trainers on the bridge."

"We know _that_ ," Kalder said. "Tell us something else, like why Rockets are out here and where they're stationed."

"I was getting to that!" Cera exclaimed. "You see, when I read his mind, I saw they're stationed in a house on the northeast side of town. They're hiding out in it and have taken a man's daughter as hostage. They told him if they don't want to be thrown into the Rocket army they'll keep letting their house be used as a base of operations and source of food."

"We'll need to immediately go back give him over to the police," Sam said. "We'll arrive at Bill's house after we find the police station. Kalder, drag him with us."

The Marshtomp walked over to the man and heaved him on his shoulder, walking along with the rest of them.

"Come on you," he said.

"My legs…you didn't have to do that," he said as he moaned in pain.

"Yeah, I know I didn't have to," Kalder replied. "But you'll have to forgive me as the temptation was utterly irresistible."

"Kalder, enough," Sam said. "They'll probably take you to the hospital after you tell them everything you know. So just be glad that your legs will heal, eventually."

"I hate you all," he said as they moved toward the bridge. "You don't think we joined Team Rocket for nothing, did you? Some of us were kidnapped from a tender age, some even tricked into getting into the organization."

"And were you either?" Judeau asked.

"No," he said. "I was but a humble man who was tired of living at the threat of you savages…"

He glared distastefully at Sam's Pokemon.

"And just wished for a little safety for myself and my family," he said. "It pays, well, and I never once killed an innocent human being."

"Then how do you explain the reports of Team Rocket kidnapping humans and Pokemon?" Cera asked with barely-veiled disdain. "As well as murdering anyone who they think get in their way?"

"That's usually reserved for others," he said. "Some of us don't work the field as much and are more or less administrators. Not all of us are evil."

"But you work for an evil organization," Cera said. "Despite claiming you're not the bad one, you still work and slave away for those who _ultimately_ evil."

The recruiter shut up around that point, ducking his head slightly.

Cera saw Sam turn down to Jackson, who was walking beside him.

"Jackson," he said. "Thanks for um…convincing me to take him to the police instead. I…kind of lost my head."

"I understand your frustration Sam," she said. "But I will try to save as many lives as possible."

"My mother told me the Rockets once took away her cousin from her," he said. "It's a story that always scared me…I…I panicked, okay?"

"I told you I understand, Sam," the Mankey replied. "I was scared as well. Especially after I was down from that Koffing's Poison attack. I understand."

Sam then turned to her.

"Cera?" he said. "Do you think that the police will actually be able to rescue that hostage as well as get those Rockets out?"

The Smoochum sighed to herself, feeling a bit of uneasiness come over her.

"It's very possible," Cera said. "They'll probably alert the gym leader and have a mission to get everyone to safety. But it's according to how dangerous and well prepared those Rockets are for a fight. From what I could tell these Rockets seemed to be prepared for a confrontation if needs be."

"Could you tell what kind of Pokemon they have or the technology they're equipped with?" he asked.

She sighed again.

"I was honestly surprised by how much of his mind I could in fact read," she said. "But that I wasn't really able to see. I have a feeling this guy's not really informed too well."

"Too bad," Sam said. "If you could we might be able to give the police a bit more information."

{}

After finding the police station they explained to the officers there what happened. The police told them they understood and would take it from there themselves. Cera and the rest of them went back across the bridge to find Bill's house and found a fight or two.

"Nidorina use Poison Sting!"

The four-legged Pokemon charged at Cera who barely bothered to listen to Sam's next command.

"Confusion!" he said.

"I already knew that," she replied.

Cera lifted her arms to see the Nidorina levitate in the air before being thrown backward. Its trainer sighed before he returned the Poison-type to its Pokeball. He walked over to Sam and handed him some money.

"Thank you for not killing my Pokemon," he said. "There aren't many of you that do that but it's nice when I meet a trainer like that."

Sam smiled.

"My pleasure," he said.

He waved them goodbye before running off toward the bridge.


	17. Chapter 17

{Cera}

The Smoochum fell to the ground, held up only by her arms as her body suddenly growing. Her midsection became much longer, her arms increased in bulkiness, her head finally growing a neck. Her blond crop of hair grew out into a long mass as her legs became shapelier. When her transformation ended Cera lay on the ground, noticeably bigger as everyone began looking at her.

"Well that's a shock," Jackson said.

"You look almost like a human," Leif commented.

"Oh no, you're right!" she said.

Cera looked on embarrassedly as Sam covered his eyes, turned slightly away from her. Sam's Pokemon took noticeable discomfort.

"Is something wrong, Sam?" Kalder asked.

"Um…no," he said. "It…it's just…"

"Jynx anatomy is fairly close to human anatomy," she explained. "Humans don't like their nude bodies being shown in public."

"Why is that?" Jackson asked.

"It's weird," Kalder said. "Apparently it's distracting for humans to see another human being naked and the naturally divert their eyes. They don't even find it disgusting, hell, apparently some humans find it so appealing they actually like to see humans with their clothes off. And I mean that they _obsessively_ like it."

"So they like it so much that they hate seeing it?" Judeau asked.

"Essentially," Kalder said.

"That's…just stupid," Judeau said.

"Agreed," Kalder said.

"Sam!" Cera said. "That dress the professor gave you."

"Oh yeah!" he cried.

Sam dug out a red garment from his bag and through it at her. Cera caught it and fit it onto her body as fast as she could. She finally fit the loose fitting garment on her.

"I'm decent," she said.

Sam turned to her and gave a relieved sigh.

"Alright guys," Sam said. "Let's head back. It's getting dark. I think I can see Pokemon rustling through the night."

{Sam}

The six of them did just that, returning from their day of battling trainers back to town. They crossed the bridge to arrive in Cerulean City, arriving back at the Pokemon Center. Sam leaned back in his bed, getting comfortable while his Pokemon took their various positions on the floor of the rented room. Unless it was Kalder or Jackson of course as they laid on the mattress at Sam's feet.

"You two like the feeling of an artificial bedding, do you?" Sam asked.

"It's alright," Jackson replied.

"I do," Kalder said. "A friend of mine, Cal, let met sleep in a bed a few nights. Damn, I miss those days when I got to walk into a human residence without anyone worrying. It was a better time."

"I'm sure it was," Sam said as he yawned.

"Samuel, when will we be battling the gym leader?" Judeau asked.

"In two days," he answered. "Better get some sleep because we'll be battling until then."

{}

Sam woke up that morning somewhat in a daze, looking to see Lief, Jackson and Judeau were already up and moving. Kalder and Cera still slept.

"Morning, Sam," the Mankey said.

"You dream of winning this battle?" the Flaaffy asked.

"Why would that matter?" Jackson asked.

"Because it's an omen," Judeau said. "It's often said that sometimes you can get glimpses of the future in a dream."

"I never took you for the superstitious type, Sora," Jackson said.

"I'm not," he said. "But since Sam doesn't have a plan for our battle, I was grasping at straws for some hope."

"Why do you have so little faith in him, Judeau?" she asked.

Sam zoned out of the conversation, instead opting to go outside of the Pokemon Center. When he was outside he felt the slight chill of the early morning, seeing how most of the crowd moved slightly sluggish.

He pulled a Pokeball from around his waist and threw it into the air. Appearing in a flash of light was the Zubat he'd caught who flapped nervously at his height. She appeared to be aware of him because she was facing his direction.

"Hey," he said. "Look…I have a question for you."

She stared blankly at him.

"I understand you're apprehensive to be a part of this team but, if you don't want to stay here then I can let you go," he said mildly. "I've brought you out a few times and you never really seemed keen on talking to anybody, so I was kind of wondering if you didn't like it here. You don't have to be with us if you don't want to. I know for sure that I wouldn't want to risk my life for a bunch of strangers if I didn't like them. So…if you want to…you can leave."

Sam looked down, slightly sheepish before the Zubat spoke.

"The truth is I don't know myself," she said. "I always struggled getting food by myself and wanted to go onto the outside but I was usually too scared. I know it sounds lame but I actually think that I may have a chance to explore the outside world. But…it's difficult to explain my situation at home with someone who isn't a Zubat. I have things I need taking care of. Especially a human. No offense."

"None taken," he said. "Honestly, it'd be hard explaining my home situation to anyone, especially a Pokemon."

"Why?" she asked. "A parent who doesn't love or want you?"

Sam almost blushed, looking down sheepishly.

"What?" he asked. "How'd you know?"

"We Zubat have excellent hearing," she said. "I overheard you talking with your friends, especially the Ice-type, about it. I can understand."

Sam sighed.

"I need to go take care of this," she said. "So please, let me go and I may return."

"How will you find us?" Sam asked.

"Give me your blood," she said.

Sam's eyes went wide.

"What?" he asked.

"Zubat can usually track Pokemon down if the scent is strong enough," she said. "If I take in enough of your blood I can track your scent for miles."

Sam sighed.

"I hope you're clean," he replied as he rolled up his sleeve.

She smiled with a toothy grin.

"I am," she answered.

She sunk her fangs into the flesh of his arm to which he yelped. She hung on there for a good while before letting go. She fluttered off into the distance to which Sam sighed.

"I need to not let people step all over me."

Sam went back to the room to see Kalder and Cera had woken up.

"What you just go do?" Judeau asked. "You don't appear to have any food with you."

"Um…I had to go do something," he said.

He explained to them what he did with the female Zubat before releasing her.

"Wait…you let her bite you?" Cera asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Why…?"

"Wow," Kalder said. "And here I thought you humans were hygienic."

"You are such a doormat," Judeau said.

"I know," Sam said bashfully.

"You need to go get that checked out right now," Cera said. "I'm sure the nurse here will take care of you."

{}

"A Zubat attacking randomly?" the nurse said as she wrapped a bandage around the marks on Sam's arm. "I've never heard of that."

"Yeah," Sam replied. "It's still early morning. They come out at that time sometime. You know how wilds are, always looking to get into a city and kill the human population."

"Yes, that's true," she said. "But Zubat usually don't attack unless you step into their cave. In fact, most Pokemon that spend most of their time not on land, like Zubat and sea Pokemon, don't attack humans at all. It's only the terrestrial Pokemon that go out of their way to attack humans."

She finished applying the bandages.

"Well, you had no perceivable germs and what few there may have been were probably killed by those anti-biotics and shots we gave you," she said. "Of course, you'll have to pay us for this treatment. It should be about fifty dollars."

"Can I pay you later today?" Sam asked.

"Fine," she said. "But don't you dare think about leaving until you've paid."

"I won't," Sam said as he walked out the door. "I've got a battle to win."

Sam went back to the room, surrounded by his Pokemon who looked either worried or stoic as they crowded in the room around him.

"So what do we do until the battle starts?" Cera asked, tugging at the dress she was not entirely used to yet.

"Spend the last few moments in quiet to savor what it means to be alive, I guess?" Judeau asked.

"Quit it," she replied with a roll of her eyes

"No," Sam said. "Judeau's right. Let's just savor what time we may have left before any of you kick the bucket."

He looked to see the five of them all returned a bittersweet grin at him as he leaned his head down.

{}

Sam walked to the gym, his Pokemon behind him as he approached the large building that stood taller than anything around it. People crowded into the doorway, parting for Samuel and his Pokemon as they whispered "It's him! He's come!" as he walked by. The five of them made their way through the doorway for him to see that, just like at the Pewter City gym, they were surrounded by a large crowd in the stands around them.

This time, however, there were even more stands and in front of Sam was a rectangular pool of water flowing in from an outside stream on each side. The indoor body of water was littered with small masses of earth with grass growing on them that apparently served as islands for combatants to stand on.

"Wow," Kalder commented. "A bit…eccentric, don't you think?"

"Looks like it's a bit too big and showy for my taste," Judeau replied.

"They certainly go all out," Sam said.

"That's probably because gym battles are important to the war effort," Cera said. "They show off and make impressive feats to potential recruits who sign up because these battles look cool."

"Figures," Judeau said.

"Look!" someone in the audience said. "She's coming!"

The five of them turned to see stepping forward on the other side of the battlefield was a tall girl with fiery red hair sporting a sideways ponytail. She wore a skintight blue swimsuit that Sam was enchanted by. The more he looked at her the more it seemed her revealing garment seemed to hug every curve of her body better. He loved how he could see what nice skin the lack of leggings showed.

 _Man._ He thought. _No one told me Misty would be wearing something so nice to look at. I almost want to ditch the money just to go out on a date with her._

 _See._ Cera said. _This is what Kalder was talking about._

 _Dah!_ Sam yelled back in his head. _You weren't supposed to hear that! Um…are you always reading my mind like this?_

 _Eh, I zone in and out._ She replied. _So long as I'm near you I can hear most every of your thoughts. I only got better at it once I evolved into a Jynx. Some thoughts are more interesting than others. I've often noticed younger humans, both male and female, are more nervous and sensitive about sexuality than older ones. I guess you're still just going through that stage._

Sam did his best to glare at her.

 _Well give me some privacy._ He said. _No girls were ever all that interested in me back home so I never even kissed a girl._

 _That doesn't surprise me at all._ She said with a laughing smirk.

Sam's pride deflated as he turned back to Misty who took the center of attention in the middle of the gym.

"Today I will battle Samuel Turner for the coveted Cascade Badge," she said. "This will be a full six on six Pokemon battle and I will choose my Pokemon first. Are you ready, Turner?"

Sam nodded before yelling "Indeed I am!" to which Misty nodded back. She plucked a Pokeball from her waist and threw it forward.

"Go!" she yelled. "Staryu!"

The Pokeball opened and in a flash of light appeared Staryu that plopped into the water below it and gave a spray of water from its body before facing Sam with the red core in the middle of its body.

"So what do we do, oh fearless leader?" Judeau asked.

"Well," Sam said. "Since you were so kind as to ask I was debating as whether to send you or Leif into battle, since it's you two that have the type advantage. But if you're so eager, you can go."

"Should be easy!" the Flaafy replied.

{Judeau}

He ran out to the edge of the pool and gave an arrogant glare to the Staryu.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Penta-head! Play dead now and I may spare you!"

The Water-type remained silent.

"Staryu!" Misty yelled. "Water Pulse!"

The Staryu bent its five limbs toward the center of its body as it channeled water into the red core. From that core it threw a beating blob of water at him. He ducked to the ground as the pulsing mass of water sailed over him to which Judeau gave a sardonic grin.

"You missed."

"Jump into the water!" Sam yelled.

"Staryu get out!" Misty cried.

Judeau hopped into the pool and immediately released a Thundershock in the pool. The Staryu was trying to jump out when the charge of electricity released from its body met the Water-type and fried it black. The Pokemon floated to the top of the water with a bit of smoke released from its body. Misty returned her Pokemon to its Pokeball before taking another ball from her waist.

"I see you can take care of yourself in battle and aren't totally incompetent!" she yelled. "But now it's time to show you why I'm revered on the battlefield! Go, Starmie!"

Misty flung the Pokeball forward out from it appeared a Pokemon that obviously evolved from Staryu but was larger, had about double the number of limbs, had a purple body and a diamond-like core that shone brilliantly. The water around it reflected seven colors very brightly. Judeau glared at his opponent, his wool wet and dribbling as he treaded in the pool.

"Give 'em another Thundershock!" Sam yelled.

"Rapid Spin Starmie!" Misty ordered.

The Starmie was faster and jumped out of the water in a blur before spinning like a Frisbee.

"Judeau!" Sam yelled. "Get out of the way!"

The Flaafy sighed as he grumbled to himself before sluggishly making his way out of the water. The Starmie was headed right for him as he crawled atop one of the miniature islands. The Starmie then diverted its course to position its Rapid Spin to go back and hit him. Judeau quickly shot off a Thundershock at it to which that Starmie dodged in mid-air.

"Come back Starmie!" Misty called. "Stand still!"

The Starmie diverted its course and landed on one of the small islands in the pool, facing Judeau's side of the field.

"Starmie!" Misty yelled. "Show them are greatest technique! Reverse Shield Whirlpool!"

The Starmie then started spitting up water from all its limbs before jumping into the air and spinning its body like it was performing another Rapid Spin. This time, however, it spun in place and did not move from its position in the air while water quickly started accumulating around its body. At first it looked only like a small amount of water was surrounding it before the water is was producing from its body started spinning with it, taking a shape that appeared to be like some kind of disk.

"Judeau!" Sam said. "I don't know what she's trying to do but it can't be good whatever it is! Thundershock it!"

Judeau loosed a blast of electricity from its body at the Starmie. However, he saw that once the yellow bolt hit the Starmie's disc-shaped spiral of what that surrounded it, the electricity was repelled.

"What?!" Sam and all his Pokemon said at once.

"But Water-types are super-effected by Electric attacks!" Sam shouted.

"Fuck that!" Judeau said. " _Water_ conducts electricity! How the fuck did that bounce off it?!"

"Hah!" Misty yelled with bravo. "Show's what you know! Water itself doesn't conduct electricity! It's the minerals in water that do!"

"What?" Judeau asked.

"My Starmie's developed a specialized technique that removes the minerals from water through a process of hydro kinesis and spinning!" Misty explained. "In doing so, it forms a shield that not only repels most physical attacks, but also does so against one of a Water-type's only two weaknesses!"

"Shit," Judeau said.

"Shit indeed," Sam said.

"Now Starmie!" Misty yelled. "Attack with Whirlpool!"

The Starmie, which was now obscured by the twenty-foot spiral of water that surrounded it, charged at Judeau like it was performing another Rapid Spin.

{Sam}

"Judeau!" Sam said as he raised the Flaafy's Pokeball. "Return!"

In a beam of light the Electric-type disappeared, leaving the Starmie target-less as its spinning wall of water neared the edge of the pool faster than you'd expect. Sam jumped back in fight at the Water-type's Whirlpool, hearing the whir of it sound like a cycle of blades before departing back to the other side of the field in a near instant, hovering in midair.

"I think that thing may be faster _using_ that Whirlpool than using Rapid Spin," Cera said.

"I think you're right," Sam said before turning to Leif. "You ready?"

The Grovyle nodded, stepping forward before leaping onto one of the small islands in the pool, immediately growing a Leaf Blade from his the foliage on his right wrist.

{Leif}

Leif glared up at the spinning disc of water that obscured the Starmie of sight, raising Leaf Blade so that it was eye-level with the enormous Whirlpool.

 _Let's see if I can't slice into you._ He thought.

The Grovyle jumped from the small island to another small island, racing toward the Starmie at a speed that made him look like a green blur.

"Leif!" Sam yelled. "I didn't give you an order! I don't know if what you're doing is a good decision! Close range attacks won't work!"

Leif grunted in response.

 _Fool._ He said. _Not only have us Pokemon been battling without your instruction for a long time now but I never needed it in the first place. I am by far stronger without and need no one!_

"Starmie use Confuse Ray!" Misty ordered

From the middle of the Whirlpool showed a brilliant purple light the reflected into the pool. Leif jumped from island to island, avoiding the beam of intense violet light before racing to the edge of the disc of spinning water. Leif launched himself upward and slashed into the water with the large leaf growing from his arm.

To his surprise, the Leaf Blade did actually seem part the water and allow him to see the purple shape of the Starmie spiraling in the center. However, it didn't last long as Leif's arm got caught in Whirlpool and he was slung to the right. Leif was carried around the complete circumference of the Whirlpool before the Grovyle took a great lunge. He plopped from mid-air to splash into the pool before clinging desperately to the nearest piece of earth.

"Leif!" Sam yelled. "Are you okay?"

Leif straightened his drenched body before turning to Sam.

"I'm fine," he said bitterly.

"That was way too close," Cera said. "If you would have gotten any closer you may have been dragged into the Whirlpool and probably wouldn't have come out."

"You're right," Leif said as he hung his head ashamedly. "I…I did act far too rash for my own good."

"Leif, what did you see when you got close?" Sam asked.

"I just saw the Starmie in the middle of that Whirlpool as the water swirled towards it from within," Leif said.

"Wait!" Sam said. "You're telling me the Whirlpool's water spins _toward_ the Starmie?"

"I believe so," Leif said.

Sam looked contemplative as he stared down at the floor.

"Come on!" Misty yelled. "Make a move already! Oh, fuck it, never mind then! Starmie attack with Whirlpool!"

The Starmie spun its large spiral of water toward the Grovyle's side of the field to which Leif shivered in fright at the sight.

"Samuel!" Cera yelled. "If you have a plan, now is the time to use it!"

"Okay!" Sam said. "Leif, I need you to shoot as many seeds at that Starmie as possible!"

"But…" Leif started. "If I shoot too many seeds the force won't be as strong when it hits on impact."

"That doesn't matter," Sam said. "All that matters now is you fire as many seeds as possible at it."

Leif nodded.

"Kay," he said before turning around.

Leif raced toward the incoming Whirlpool, dodging the enormous spiral of water as it lapped up earth and pool water. The Grovyle straightened himself, gathering seeds from the pit of his stomach and firing as many of them as he could. The small shells splashed harmlessly into the water before being washed into the center of the spinning water as a dark, cloudy mass before going to the edge of the spinning water and then circling back to the center in a spiral. As the Starmie directed its Whirlpool toward Leif, the Grovyle dodged the giant wheel of water with a graceful leap to the side. A few more jumps and he was back to Sam's side of the pool.

"You're right Leif," Sam said as he looked at the cloud of seeds that spun throughout the Whirlpool.

"Sort of," Cera commented. "See how the seeds move to the center where Starmie is and then follow the current to loop through the water just to come back to the center? It shows that Starmie is recycling that water to use the Whirlpool and not creating more."

"As a Water-type," Kalder said. "I can attest to that. A Water-type Pokemon's body is the source of the water they produce and hold, so if one wants to use a move like Whirlpool that takes a constant and large supply of liquid they usually need to reuse the same water. In other words, the water source is finite so the water probably goes out and then reenters its body before leaving again, creating the spiral. That give you any ideas, Sam?"

"Yes," he said. "Yes it does."

Samuel quickly explained to Leif his plan before Misty shouted another order to her Pokemon.

"Starmie use Whirlpool!" she cried.

"You ready?" Sam asked.

"Sounds dangerous but logical in some way," Leif answered. "Why the hell not?"

Leif took in a large gulp of air and grew his Leaf Blade from both arms, knowing that he would need it. When the Starmie charged at him with the Whirlpool Lief grew the tendrils from his hands and ran straight for the Starmie's Whirlpool and plunged straight into spinning water. Leif held out his arms as he was sucked into the current like an undertow, reaching out for anything with flailing arms. His eyes were closed and he could not see a thing as all was dark. He was very aware of the sudden, swift movement that pulled him into something solid with multiple points.

 _Bingo._ He thought.

Leif immediately stabbed his Leaf Blades into the Starmie's body, the tendrils in his hands immediately gripping to it as he clung close. He spun around and around with the Starmie but apparently the pain of being stabbed twice was getting to it because Leif could feel the rapid movement slow considerable. Still, he resisted against the swift current as the only thing preventing him from being sucked in was his Leaf Blades dug into its body and the tendrils from his palm, the latter of which was quickly Absorbing water from the Pokemon's body.

Leif did not know how long it took as he was more focused by how long he could hold his breath but eventually he felt the water stop swallowing him and seemed to disappear as he kept Absorbing it from the Starmie's body. Once the Whirlpool's water supply was gone the Starmie fell to the surface of the pool with Leif on top of it, his leaves still digging into the Water-type's body. Leif withdrew the Leaf Blades as they retracted into the regular foliage on his arms. Just as he passed out and fell onto the Starmie's gem-like core Lief felt himself be return to his Pokeball.

{Sam}

"Wow," he said. "How lucky for us that actually worked after all?"

"Pretty lucky," Cera said.

"Indeed," Jackson commented.

The boy looked to see the gym leader return her dead Water-type Pokemon to its Pokeball as she flung another one into the pool.

"Psyduck!" she yelled. "I choose you!"

From the Pokeball's flash of light appeared a yellow Pokemon with a large, wide beak and small hairs growing from its head. Sam's hand instinctively went to Judeau's Pokeball.

"I hope you're ready," he said as he looked at Judeau through the red transparent top of the device. "Get out there Judeau!"

He released the Electric-type as it stood at the edge of the pool as he stood at attention.

{Judeau}

The Flaafy looked around the battlefield as soon as he appeared, elated to see a spinning body of liquid death not fast approaching.

"Hey," he said. "I don't see that purple thing around anymore. I'm guessing you got rid of it?"

"Sure did," Sam said as he nodded his head. "But you have a new opponent."

He pointed to a Psyduck at the edge of the opposing side of the battlefield. Judeau groaned playfully.

"Is that all?" he asked. "I've beaten Psyduck back in the wild like it was nothing."

"Well then I guess you should have no problem beating one again," Sam said.

Judeau smirked to himself.

"Sure thing kid," he said.

"Judeau use Thundershock!" Sam shouted.

Judeau readied an electric charge within his wool as the energy coursed through the surface of his body.

"Psyduck!" Misty yelled. "Redirect it with Confusion!"

The Flaafy released a blast of electric energy sent straight at the Water-type before the Thundershock stopped in midair. Judeau's jaw dropped in shock before the electric attack levitating in the air for a moment as it balled up into a mass of energy. It was then thrown directly at him. The Flaafy was hit by the electric shock and experienced mild pain before being thrown into the wall.

"Judeau!" his friends cried.

He stood back up and ran around the edge of the pool towards the Psyduck. Electricity ran through his body again as he readied it to be channeled into his right arm.

"Oh I'll give you something you won't be able to direct!" he mumbled loudly. "You little yellow fuck!"

He then stood up on his hind legs and readied his front right arm by channeling electricity into it, something he was able to do since he evolved into a Flaafy.

"Psyduck!" Misty yelled in panic. "Use Water Gun!"

The Psyduck opened its mouth wide and unleashed a forceful spray of water at him. Judeau Thunder Punched the front of the blast and while he was forced back by the blast he did in fact send a wave of electricity through the water right to the Psyduck's mouth. The electrocution he received knocked him down onto his head where smoke blew off his body. Misty recalled her Pokemon as Judeau gave Misty a glare, being so close, and ran back around to his side of the field. As he did, she called out another Pokemon from a Pokeball she flung.

"Go!" she yelled. "Seadra!"

From the flash of light appeared a Pokemon as blue as the water it treaded. It had a long snout and wore spiky wing-like appendages on its back and gazed at him with piercing black eyes.

"Nice improvising Judeau," Sam said. "Misty's cornered now as I think that Starmie was her trump card."

"You think so?" he asked.

"I believe so too," Cera said. "It doesn't appear to me that any of Misty's other Pokemon have a way combatting their Electric-type weakness, otherwise they would have used it."

"Seadra!" Misty said. "Use Water Pulse!"

The Seadra's body tensed as it seemed to be concentrating a large quantity of water into its snout before firing a blast of spiraling column of water at Judeau.

"Judeau!" Sam yelled. "Dodge it by diving into the water!"

The Flaafy did as told and while in the water he loosed a Thundershock that lighted up the pool. Judeau swam to the top to see the Seadra floating on the surface with blackened skin. Judeau crawled onto a small piece of land as Misty recalled her fallen Seadra and threw a new Pokemon into battle.

"Come on out, Togetic!" she yelled.

From the Pokeball flung into the appeared a white bird-like Pokemon with an innocent expression and blue and red shapes on its chest.

"Use Magical Leaf!" Misty cried.

The individual grass blades on the ground around Judeau sprung up from the turf, glowing a bright green as they tore into the Flaffy's pink skin and shredded his white wool as tuffs of it lay floating in the pool.

"AH!" he cried in agony.

"Judeau!" Sam yelled. "Retaliate with Thundershock!"

He loosed another volt of lightning that hit the Flying-type's wing and it fell to an island beneath it.

"Get up and another Magical Leaf!" Misty cried.

The Togetic attempted to stand back up but once it did electricity sparked off its body, forcing it down.

"It's paralyzed!" Judeau heard Sam yell. "Quick, while its down-!"

"No!" Misty cried. "I surrender!"

There was a collective silence as everyone in the audience seemed went from chattering and wailing to becoming quiet. Judeau looked on at the red-haired woman with surprise before returning the Flying-type to a Pokeball.

"I surrender," she said. "Samuel Turner, you win this battle."

{Sam}

Sam held the money in his left hand with a certain awe, the badge and the TM he quickly stuffed into his bag, but the dollars that he ruffled through his fingers…oh it felt euphoric to him.

"That should be two thousand dollars," Misty said. "I hope you enjoy that reward."

"Oh trust me I will," Sam replied with enthusiasm.

Misty turned to the crowd, raising Sam's free hand as his eyes were still glued to his winnings.

"The winner!" she yelled. "Samuel Turner from Pallet Town!"

The crowd roared with excitement.

{}

Sam was happy that Misty made it so the crowd had to move for him as he left the gym. It made him feel important as the people parted for him and his Pokemon, his money stashed into his bag. The boy healed Judeau and Leif at the nurse's desk before departing to his room where he called them out. Once there Sam his Pokemon a special task.

"You want us to throw this money in the air?" Cera asked. "Why?"

"Because I'm your trainer who loves you, feeds you, and makes sure you don't kick the bucket when a wild Pidgey attacks," he replied. "Now do as I say, all of you, or you won't be getting any supper."

The five of them took the two thousand dollars into their hands and threw it into the air to which Sam rolled on the floor, catching as much money as he could as he tossed and turned in it. He even began making snow-angels of the green bills his Pokemon tossed into the air.

"We're rich!" he yelled. "Loaded! Swimming in mullah! In the black! Scrooge McGolducking! Oh, I've always wanted to do this!"

"Sam," Kalder asked. "I don't see the point in this. This is kind of weird. Wouldn't we be potentially losing a lot of cash if we lost it?"

"Oh, I know you're a Water-type but quick being such a wet blanket," Sam said as he rolled on the floor. "What I'm doing is important to my wellbeing. You can say it's healthy to me as a person."

"Is it like rolling around in mud?" Kalder asked. "We Marshtomp will do that to get clean so it helps fight germs that cause disease."

"Very much so," Sam said.

He caught a dollar bill Leif had thrown into the air and held it up to Kalder.

"You see my amphibious friend," he said with a sly grin. "There is this disease that sweeps our humble abode of Kanto. It devastates millions each year, making them go hungry, destroying their mental fortitude, ruining their houses and making them subject to shitty indoor plumbing. That disease, my friend, is called poverty. And I am preventing said disease as I speak. For all of us."

Sam then grabbed up a wad of money and held it up so Kalder could see.

"And if you are stricken with an ailment that is _not_ the dreaded poverty," he said. "Money can always help with its treatment. _Always._ "

"What about things that plague a person on the inside?" Jackson asked. "Like profound sadness, heartbreak or a loss of someone that can't be replaced?"

"Feh," Sam said as he threw the money into the air and tried to see if he could catch any in his teeth. "Money can even replace _that_. Need a new house? Buy one. Need some fun? Buy some stuff. Need a new girlfriend? Chicks dig money. Need some new friends? They'll line up at the door once they see your improved lifestyle."

"We're your friends," Leif said. "Are _we_ replaceable with this stuff?"

"Depends," Sam answered as he looked through the dollar bills lying on the floor. "On whether or not I lost that twenty dollar bill."

"I think we have more pressing concerns," Jackson said. "Don't you think we need to go visit Bill? If we're going to get that ticket we should probably do it soon."

"I know," Sam said as he picked up a twenty. "But we need to wait until later today. There are people who will recognize us and impede our way through. We need to lay low until it gets kind of dark."

"Reasonable enough," Jackson said.

"But don't worry," Sam said. "Once we reach the SS Anne all our problems will be solved. Johto will be better, I promise."

"Kay," the Mankey replied with a sigh. "Could we at least get some food? I'm sure Judeau and Leif are hungry after that battle. I know I am, and I didn't even do anything."

Sam smiled.

{Kalder}

They stuffed their faces after they cleaned up all the money, Cera being helpful as she used her telekinesis to pull all the dollar bills back into their original stack of cash. Sam began stuffing his face with what was apparently grilled Sunkern stuffed with garlic mashed potatoes. All his Pokemon had some as they sat in a circle.

The Marshtomp had to admit, human food had a certain creativity he found unprecedented in his normal cuisine of Magikarp, Remoraid and algae. Kalder liked the taste of human food, mostly because he felt it had a certain flavor most sustenance lacked. However, he almost felt as though it were a compensation on their species part. He often noticed the brilliance of their culture and the grandiosity of their structures that they called houses but got a distinct lack of empathy they felt.

When Kalder tuned into the emotions of others, as though he could sense them like his own feelings, Sam's always felt different than his Pokemon. It was not as if everyone else's was the same and his stuck out like a sore thumb but there was a certain emptiness he had within him that no one else surrounding him did. A Pokemon's feelings felt more open compared to that of humans. They felt warm as well as connected heavily to their concerns of others.

When Jackson asked the question of whether money could fix sadness, Sam's rather flippant answer wasn't just overtly callous. Kalder could actually sense there was something there that he kept hidden even from himself. The more Kalder could sense it the more the hidden emotion reminded him of a callous, a hardened part of himself that was hardened by an outside force.

 _It may have to do with the difference of lifestyles._ Kalder thought. _Humanity actually seem to be more social creatures than Pokemon…but they're also more closed off. I wonder, if communication between Pokemon hurts helps them bond than does communication between humans actually cause pain?_

Kalder shook his head.

 _I suppose that's not up for me to decide._ He thought. _Besides, Sam seems happy enough. I'm sure he's fine._

"I can't believe I'm eating the expensive dish," Sam said as he stuffed down the Sunkern with a wash of water from a cup. "Normally something that cost two hundred dollars I'd be too much of a cheapskate to pay for. But I don't care now because I'm rich!"

"I think having enough money to toss around like mud doesn't make you rich," Cera said. "It just means you're enamored easily."

"Well you live in a house where you can hear the floorboards squeak every time you walk for three years and tell me you don't like the sight of oodles of cash," Sam said.

He then swallowed a huge lump of Sunkern and potato that made him feel like he almost choked.

"Ah," he breathed. "Now that that's out of the way, we should probably see if it's late enough outside."

"I'll check," Jackson said as she hopped to the window.

The Mankey stood in the window seal and parted the curtains.

"It's late afternoon outside," she said. "I think we should get going."

"You're right," Sam said as he picked up his bag from beside him. "Hey Kalder?"

"Yeah?" the Marshtomp asked as he looked up from his nearly empty dish.

Sam held out the Pokeball he kept the Water-type inside as well the disc Misty handed him.

"You're a Water-type, so I'd like to teach you this TM the gym leader gave me," he said. "What do you say?"

"Kay!" he said. "How's it go?"

With a push of the white button, Samuel enlarged the Pokeball and opened it, placing the TM inside as the Marshtomp found it just small enough to fit inside the interior of the Pokeball. Sam returned the Kalder to his Pokeball. While inside, the Water-type felt somewhat similar to how he did underwater. Everything was so much slower, time seeming to sort of relax.

However, as he did he found himself being swamped by information. It was weird how it felt like the first time he had been kept in a Pokeball, where the information of almost all his known knowledge was transferred to be compatible with human language. This sudden surge of information taught him things but in a different sort of way.

This time it seemed to be teaching Kalder's body something and not his brain. He became vaguely aware it had to do with how he channeled water throughout his body, specifically his throat. He became suddenly aware that, with the right techniques, his Water Gun could in fact be stronger if it was channeled more forcefully and this information seemed to be giving his very being the knowledge of how to do it on a subconscious level. It took a while of him just floating there, his time spent in the Pokeball feeling longer than it had before. After having learned how to make his Water Gun more forceful by channeling the liquid in his body to burst rather than flow out. Well after he was done he was brought out from his Pokeball by Sam.

"You learn Water Pulse?" Sam asked.

"I think so," Kalder said.

"Then let's get a move on," he said with a relaxed smile.

Kalder and Sam's other Pokemon followed their trainer as he led them outside the Pokemon Center.

The five of them made their way through to the bridge. As they walked across it, Kalder looked over the side to see the exact spot where he almost died. He, at first, was easy food for the Tentacool until he actually started getting angry. The Marshtomp supposed he wouldn't have evolved in the nick of time if he wasn't as mature as he was. He'd fought in numerous battles before and grown strong from it, but never thought he would evolve at such a precarious time.

But yes, it was the anger that provide the catalyst needed to evolve. And once Kalder transformed into the Marshtomp he'd always wanted to be, he swam to the other side of the bridge and peaked out to see from his point of view that Seviper's back was turned. It was only a matter of shooting his Water Gun at the right angle to cannon himself upward to take down the dreaded snake. Kalder may have been able to take out the Poison-type with a Mud Shot while treading water but that may have lost the element of surprise…and fun.

"We'll still have the day trip of walking ahead of us," Sam said. "After all, this particular SS Anne leaves in…how many days did Alex say?"

"Nine," Cera answered. "Alex said ten yesterday so we have nine more days."

"Thanks," Sam said. "So we'll most likely have plenty of time to walk to Vermillion City."

As soon as their group took another collective step, there was a great squish! Kalder and everyone else looked down to see they stepped in soft, muddy earth that was freshly wet. A wave of nostalgia hit the Marshtomp as he pressed his leg deeper into the mud earth.

 _This feels sublime._ He thought to himself.

"What's this?" Jackson asked. "I don't remember it raining last night."

"It may have rained around this area and not extended over into the town much," Sam replied. "Or a bit of flooding. From what the map told me, there's a wetland not far away that forms a saltmarsh. A common occurrence is light flooding. Be careful where you step I guess."

As Sam and the other Pokemon moved on, Kalder fell to the mud below him, belly and as he began rolling around in the soaked, grassy turf. The five of them turned to him and looked at him peculiarly.

"Kalder, what are you doing?" Judeau asked.

"I-I don't know," he said. "It just felt right, you know?"

"No, I don't," Sam said.

"I don't know," Kalder said. "It's just that a lot of Mudkip and I, before we moved to this continent, actually enjoyed our home in a certain flood plain. However, because of…things I'd rather not talk about…we had to move. The thing is the wetland was pretty awesome before we left and it just invokes a feeling of nostalgia. I lost my home twice. I'd give anything to return to it."

Sam sighed as Kalder stood back up.

"I'm sorry for acting silly," he said bashfully.

"No," Sam said. "There's nothing to apologize for. I can understand your desire for home. I do about every day."

"Really?" Kalder asked.

"Yeah," Sam said. "The thing was, just like you, I lost my home twice. One to the second raid on Pallet Town and another because my mother couldn't feed me. It's not a happy story but it's one I thought you might relate to."

Kalder smiled.

"I just hope when we arrive in Johto that we can call it our home," he said.

"We will," Sam said.

{}

The journey to Bill's house in the late afternoon was a bit tiresome. On the way there, they all had to fight off wild Pokemon as well as trainers. With the flooding of the area they marched through also came wild Pokemon such as Carvanha that had been flushed out of their original home and were swimming back to shore when they jumped from the water to attack their party. Others were Pokemon more common to the area such as Bellsprout and various Bugs attacked but they were fairly easy to defeat.

The patrolling trainers of the area were a larger problem. They were more numerous than attacking wilds as Kalder could not move an inch without seeing at least two. Many just ran up to Sam to challenge him to Pokemon battles, which tired them out as they kept fighting with few breaks in between. While Kalder loved the feeling of the soaked earth, it did not help that the land was wet enough to feel like a shallow bog as it made walking more cumbersome.

Finally, after Jackson defeated a Sudowoodo and Machop on her own, they arrived at the foot of the hill. At the foot looked like projects for housing with makeshift houses and skeletons of buildings already there. There may have been more than a dozen half-constructed buildings near the hill. However, at the top sat a small cottage at the top.

"Finally," Sam said with a light pant. "The key to our freedom."

"You think Bill's really nice enough to give something this valuable to us?" Judeau ask. "These tickets sound pretty useful."

"He will," Sam said. "He has no reason not to. Bill's experimental technology is actually being used in the war against Johto. If he needs to travel somewhere then money's probably not an issue for him. Besides, we're paying him good money for it."

The six of them marched up the hill as Sam stood on the doormat. Behind Bill's house, Kalder could see thick metal cables and pipes extending out of the wall and protruding into the ground. He figured they extended into a network they was probably built underneath. Sam knocked to which the door opened. When they all stepped in Kalder looked down to see before them a pink Pokemon with a curling tail.

"A Clefairy?" Cera, Kalder and Judeau asked.

"Oh," Sam said. "So that's what that was. Honestly I need to remember to use my Pokedex more often."

"Excuse me!"

Kalder and the others turned around to see a brunette man with a blue polo shirt and brown pants wave at them. Beside him was a handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes, smiling back and waving with him. They both stood beside the door before closing it.

"Hello there," the man in blue said. "I'm Bill, as you probably know me as the creator of the PC system, otherwise you would not have come. Not many do know that I live here or that I am Bill. So why have you come?"

"Um…" Sam stuttered. "The thing is, Bill, we were hoping that you would be willing to sell us a ticket to the SS Anne. The one that arrives in Vermillion Harbor in around a week."

"Oh," Bill replied. "Well then. I have been selling those things…um…they cost a thousand dollars. Do you have that much?"

"A thousand?" Sam asked. "Alex said the cost six hundred more than that!"

Bill shrugged.

"That was just for him," he said with a smirk. "Because I knew he had more money to pay up front."

Sam grinned.

"Ah," he said. "Yes, that was Oak's grandson. Do you know him personally?"

"Unfortunately," Sam said.

Bill chuckled.

"He is quite a lot to handle," he answered. "Alex isn't the type to show much affection and is honestly quite pushy. But he's not so bad after all."

"Well," Sam started. "Do you have the ticket? I have money to pay up front."

Sam dug through his bag while Bill walked over to his desk to find the ticket. While they were busy, Kalder looked down at the floor barely being able to contain his excitement.

 _I wonder what Johto will be like._ He thought. _It probably won't have a Pokemon war going on with humans fighting one another. Or at least…I hope not. I'll be happy with anything so long as we're not potentially going to die._

Then that led Kalder to another thought.

 _Should I really continue on with these guys?_ He thought. _If I go with them I'll probably never get to see my home again. But I would have never gotten to see it again in the first place and anyone I knew from back there was probably in servitude to a human, so I can forget about seeing them. If it weren't for Leif I'd be the same…_

Kalder turned to look at the Grovyle, standing patiently behind Sam along with the rest of his Pokemon.

 _If it hadn't been for him then I'd be a slave._ He thought. _A true slave. And the fact I'm with a trainer who truly cares for me…for all of us…I can't be thankful enough for. I guess I owe it to them but if I had a choice between trying to make out on my own without the other Mudkip and Marshtomp I think I'd rather stay here with those who really care and take care of me. Plus, I owe it to Leif to stick around, he's the one who saved me. So I owe to Sam as well._

 _You're very perceptive. I can see you're empath just by viewing your thoughts._

Kalder turned around to see the blonde man Bill was with smile at him.

 _No need to speak._ He said. _I can hear your thoughts just fine. Like you, I can read peoples emotions like a book because I am also an empath. But I've also honed my skills toward that of telepathy._

Kalder felt the man's emotions and was strangely at peace all of a sudden. He felt this man had such a nice, warm outlook on life and a gentle soul that there was nothing wrong with him. The Marshtomp was suspicious as everyone he sensed had some kind of negativity they clung to, no matter how good a person they were. And here this person stood with no hatred or regret in his heart once so ever.

 _An empath?_ Kalder asked. _What's that?_

 _Someone who has the natural mental fortitude to read emotions like a human being reads words._ He said. _It's rare but it happens in both people and Pokemon._

 _Cera's a Psychic-type._ Kalder replied. _Can she sense emotion that well?_

 _Psychic-type Pokemon are better suited for emotion that more present in the moment with an individual._ He replied. _An empath can sense a more permanent state of their being. If you want to think about it, a Psychic Pokemon can sense a person's emotional weather while an empath can sense their emotional climate. I've just practiced mine until it's become telepathy. Make sense?_

Kalder nodded.

 _My name is Dave._ He said. _You're one of the few I've met. Of all things, I didn't think it'd be a Marshtomp._

 _Yeah._ He replied.

"Thank-you," Sam said as he exchanged a thousand for a single ticket. "Time to go guys. We're headed to Johto!"

"Thank-you," Bill said. "And goodbye!"

Just as Kalder and the others moved to leave out the door he almost stopped as the voice appeared in his head again.

 _Kalder._ Dave said. _I wanted to ask you something._

 _Yeah?_ Kalder asked.

 _As one empath to another I wanted to ask you, as you interact with others, to keep in mind this one question._ He said.

 _Sure._ Kalder said.

 _Are living creatures naturally evil?_ Dave asked.

 _What?_ The Marshtomp asked.

 _Humans and Pokemon alike naturally care about their own survival above others._ He said. _It is why predators exist, their bodies are supported by eating flesh. Every creature, to some extent, hurts others for its own sake. Is that an act that should be considered evil or merely used to ensure survival?_

 _I honestly have no answer to that._ He replied.

 _Of course you don't_. Dave said. _Not yet. Pokemon and humans each think the other is an evil that needs to be stopped but cannot be. Which of them is truly evil, if any?_

Kalder turned around, disturbed by what Dave had said. He was hung in a stupor for a moment before he heard a whistle.

"Come one Kalder!" Sam said. "Let's go!"

Kalder ran after Sam as Dave's question sill lingered within him.


	18. Chapter 18

{Sam}

Sam practically jumped as soon as he left Bill's house.

"Hot damn!" he said as he stared at the ticket, holding it up to the sun. "We did it! We're finally about to get out of this Arceus forsaken continent and actually go somewhere peaceful!"

"How do you know they're peaceful?" Jackson asked. "I thought you said you were at war with Johto?"

"We are," Sam said. "But the SS Anne takes a lucky number of a hundred or so people to the conquered lands that make up colonies. They're guarded by Kanto military like an encampment. Plus, usually colonies are settled so far behind the lines of the front of the war behind our country's soldiers, they're usually safe from invasion."

Sam grinned.

"Plus," he said as the six of them made their way back to the Pokemon Center. "We have a lot of money leftover since it cost six hundred dollars less than expected."

"Do you think we'll need that much money when we arrive in the colonies?" Cera asked.

"Not sure," Sam answered. "Guess we'll have to save up our greenbacks before we get there. That means getting as much money as possible in case we need it and spend as little as possible along the way."

It wasn't until they started walking across the Cerulean Bridge that Cera was the one who asked the question that was already on Sam's mind.

"Should we leave for tonight and try making it on foot right away or get some sleep at the Center?" she asked.

"Guys," Sam said. "I want to get to Vermillion City as soon as possible. There's a ferry that takes people across on the west side of town at eight o'clock tonight. Would you guys be alright with walking during the night?"

"I'd be fine with that," Leif said.

"As well would I," Jackson said.

Cera, Kalder, and Judeau nodded their heads in agreement to which Sam smiled.

"Humans aren't really built for nocturnal traversing," he said. "But with you guys I feel I can go anywhere."

"You mean that?" Leif asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sam asked. "When I first left home I thought on the first day that I'd be eaten alive before even making it through Viridian Forest. But just yesterday I defeated a Team Rocket recruiter who wanted me because I was a strong trainer. Most people in Pallet Town would have had a heart attack if faced against a proclaimed Rocket but the fact that we beat him…I don't really know what to make of that but feel I don't have to worry about safety anymore."

"Oh don't go all mushy on us," Judeau said. "It's likely not the last bit of trouble we'll have in between here and Johto or wherever. I just hope we can make it."

"Why do you say that, Judeau?" Kalder asked. "I mean, we haven't run into that much trouble before besides those Rockets, have we? I doubt we'll face them again, especially on the SS Anne."

"It's not just that, Kalder," Jackson said. "Wild Pokemon almost killed us on our way through Viridian Forest multiple times. We've been lucky most other areas we've stepped into are heavily guarded because they're so close to civilization. However, this trek between Cerulean and Vermillion sounds like it would cover a lot of wilderness."

The six of them stepped off the bridge, making their way to the dock where a ferry was at attention at the shore of the moat that surrounded Cerulean, its ramp opened down to the few passengers that boarded. Sam stuffed the ticket into his bag, smiling to himself as he looked to his bright future.

{Jackson}

As soon as the six of them arrived off the ferry they began noticing wild Pokemon stirring in the grass to their side and ahead of them. The Mankey could see the stirring of creatures moving in the dark, rustling against blades of grass and through the leaves of trees, the area around them seeming to hum with a collective sort of vibrancy every Pokemon could tell was a sign of potential danger.

"Do you feel that, guys?" Jackson asked. "That's the sound of Pokemon getting ready to fight."

"Anyone who can use ranged attacks," Sam said. "Fire around us."

Jackson felt sheepish seeing as how she didn't have a move she could fire from her mouth and hand as Leif, Cera, Judeau and Kalder unleashed a blast of something that resounded in the area with a loud sound. There was even more movement now as many Pokemon that had been formerly rustling was now withdrawing.

"You think that's such a safe measure?" Jackson asked.

"Most likely," Sam replied. "Pokemon would attack you guys since you're with me. We've got to show we're stronger than a bunch of wilds if we want to keep them off our backs."

"That is a good point," Leif said. "But are you sure that our attacks won't _attract_ any attention?"

"It may," Sam said. "But we may have to take drastic measures. The reason we were safe near Cerulean was because the wilderness we entered had been held over a period of time by controlling trainers and was already half urbanized so it was safer than most."

"And what makes this route so different?" Cera asked.

"While the roads may be safe due to patrolling trainers I checked the map to make sure following that path would get us to Vermillion City quicker," he said. "Turns out it won't. While Alex was right in that it would only take a matter of days to get to Vermillion City but he wasn't talking about a carved path. He was talking about traversing the wilderness between Cerulean and Vermillion."

"Damn," Judeau said. "So do you think it'll be something like Viridian Forest all over again?"

"Not likely," Sam answered. "At least now you guys are stronger and keeping them at bay is far easier if they're too afraid to get close. But no, I don't expect it to be easy."

"Really?" Judeau asked. "Traversing the odds even though you know it's dangerous? Sounds like you've finally been growing some balls Samuel."

Jackson could see the boy look sheepish.

"Yeah, well," he started but couldn't seem to finish.

The Mankey glared at Judeau.

"Or maybe Sam's always been this brave," she replied. "And you just haven't noticed."

The Flaaffy shook his head at her.

"Oh come on," he said. "I compliment the boy once and you act like it's a bad thing."

The Mankey groaned.

"Egh," she said. "Your compliments are about as dry as anything else you say."

Jackson felt the desire to ignore whatever Judeau would have said next when her ears caught the sound of something she never thought she'd hear this late in the wilderness. Human voices that weren't Samuel's.

Jackson jumped from her position beside the Jynx and ran farther up. She could definitely catch an earful of human chattering that was not far away. In fact the sound seemed to grow even closer.

"Jackson…?" Kalder asked.

"Fasha?" Judeau said. "What is it?"

Jackson paused for a moment before answering, able to hear mumbled words under the cold breath of several humans.

"Humans," she whispered. "And they're close. I think…I think there's some sort of argument going on. And what sounds like a slight struggle."

"I hear it to," Leif replied. "It's faint and I can't make much out but it is growing louder."

"Can you guys show me where it is?" Sam asked.

"Samuel," Leif said. "I'll jump into the trees and spy on them before you get there. If anything goes wrong I can surprise them or alert you."

"I'll go with you," Jackson said.

Leif looked shocked to hear her say that, not to mention uneasy.

"No Jackson," he said. "If I…I mean it wouldn't be safe-"

"She's fine," Sam said. "She may not be as fast as you but she's definitely got a hell of a lot more strength. Go ahead, Jackson."

The Grovyle shrugged.

"Good plan then," Sam said. "Cera, can you sense how many of them there are?"

"Several," she said. "Maybe six or more. And they have Pokemon. Leif's right that they're in a heated argument. A fight may just be around the corner if they're particularly hostile."

And with that, Leif and Jackson ran off to the tree line to their sides, hopping onto a low branch with a single bound before dashing off through the branches. Jackson's night vision was very good and only seemed to have gotten better, being able to see at night almost exactly as well as during the day.

"Leif," the Mankey said as she hopped to another limb. "Why didn't you want me coming with you?"

"I could do it myself for simple reconnaissance," he said. "Best not endanger someone else."

Jackson almost chuckled.

"Oh don't worry," she said with a sarcastic tone. "You don't need to be sheepish when you need my help to save you."

The Grovyle groaned angrily as she laughed a little.

They jumped from each branch of the trees and it reminded Jackson of how she was with her family before they left the meadow. It felt so rhythmic and felt as if they were moving as one just as she had felt when she was with her family. They'd had a close family with no one in it dying by the hands of a predator or starvation, something uncommon among her species.

However, it wasn't until rivalry started getting heated with the humans and newcomers that she'd experienced a loss of her family. She never wanted to admit it but it took a piece of her with it to know her family died as well as where she had been born turned into a crappy piece of turf too small for its inhabitants to live off of so they fought and killed daily for a measly sip of water or something to eat.

Honestly, she was glad she'd met Sora at the time as he was without a family just as she was. She knew the Flaaffy would never admit it but he needed her. At first he wasn't so bad about foul mouthing everyone he met but that resentment that built up in him…she didn't need to be Psychic to know he hated every day he lived. He hated everything, going out of his way to bitch and moan and **seethe** with anger. Sora attacked every Pokemon that even looked like they'd steal food from the two of them and consistently shouted he'd love nothing more than to electrocute anyone who even tried.

It was not hard to understand why. While Jackson had always detested and defied against the aggression her fellow Mankey showed to other Pokemon, Jackson herself had become prone to the urge to attack anyone who came near to threatening her. She despised the newcomers and she despised humanity and deep inside her wanted nothing more than to break all their necks with her fists.

However, after seeing what it had done to Sora all she wanted to do was keep him calm long enough to prevent himself from getting killed. She had to show him restraint by personal example or else there was no telling what he'd do. When Jackson went to scavenge food for the two of them she would come back to see he'd arrived with vegetables she recognized humans grew. It wasn't very hard to understand that, risky or not for his own personal safety, he would continue to do so out of spite.

He felt humans owed him something for taking his herd and he was more than willing to go out of his way to steal food from them. It was undeniably petty but the worst thing was that Sora knew it and did it anyway just to be stubborn. In reflection to her own anger, it made it seem pointless to go out of her way to stir up violence for the sake of petty vengeance so she gave up that feeling of anger in an effort to show Sora he could as well. He didn't of course, but he took her advice enough so that he never went too far and got himself killed.

"Jackson."

The Mankey shook from her stupor to see that they had stopped. They both stood on branches as Leif overlooked a group of seven humans in dark uniforms with red R's emblazoned on the breast of each. They had various Pokemon at their side as the dragged a rather large man and a slim girl with them. They were pushing them forward as they held them with handcuffs and appeared to be trying to stifle anything they said.

"Please..." Jackson could hear the older man saying. "I don't…stop this…"

"Rockets," she heard Leif whisper.

"Really?" Jackson asked. "How can you be so sure?"

The Grovyle paused for a moment before shaking his head.

"We fought them before when they were in uniform," he answered. "What, you didn't see them when we fought them at Mount Moon?"

"It was hard to see," Jackson answered. "It all happened in a blur so fast I couldn't make out what was going besides them dressing in dark. Also, fighting in a cave is different than fighting on the outside at night. I can see clearer in the latter."

"Fair enough point," the Grovyle replied.

"What do you think they're doing?" Jackson asked.

"Slavery," Leif replied. "They're known to kidnap both Pokemon and humans."

Jackson shook her head as she and Leif leaned in closer to listen to the Rockets speak.

"Shut the fuck up," she heard a woman say. "Get moving…quick resisting or we'll leave you out here to die. Would you like to risk your chances at night with these wilds?"

"No!" a girl said. "I'd rather die than become a slave!"

"Ellen don't-!" a gruff voice of a man said.

Jackson felt she could hear scuffling and a whimper from the same girl's voice. She turned to Leif.

"This is horrible," she said. "I don't think we can wait to report back to the others."

"Agreed," the Grovyle said. "But I think a sneak attack is in order. See if you creep through the dark and take out one of their Pokemon without killing them. Then you can go for the hostages."

"Agreed," Jackson answered.

The two of them simultaneously scaled the tree's trunk as quietly as possible and split away from each other as the Mankey instinctively circled around the group of Rockets. From a closer look it seemed that the Rockets were in deed trying to move faster than they were but were dragging their heels on the rude compulsion of their two captured prisoners not wanting to join in slavery. She could hear the growling of Poocheyena as she did so, careful not to get too close as that might give her away.

"What you hear girl?" a male Rocket asked. "You see somethin'."

"Something's out there," the Poocheyena said. "And it's close. _Very_ close. I…I think we may have been followed."

" _Shit_ ," a Rocket man said. "You think its that bitch of a gym leader's Water-type forces? I thought we lost them."

"How the fuck did they know we were there in the first place?" a Rocket woman asked. "I thought we covered our tracks well. No one but these two fuckers knew."

"Well, remember," a Rocket man said. "Kacy and Jake didn't come back. They may have gotten their asses captured and forked over the information."

"They're…," the Poocheyena said. "There are two shapes…bipedal. One's taller than the other and I think they're circling around us."

There was a silent pause where no one spoke. Jackson was hesitant as to what to do before she saw Leif's silhouette Quick Attack a Rocket's Voltorb, sending it spinning across the ground. Jackson sprung into action at that time, Low Kicking the Poocheyena she was nearest to that had seen her and Leif. When the Dark-type struggled to rise up from the blow she gave the Pokemon a good hit with her fist that knocked it back down.

Jackson jumped out of the way of an advancing Ekans that attempted to Bite her. She leapt sideways and dodged a swing of its tail before stomping right behind its head with a Mega Kick. She then dodged an incoming Houndour's Ember with a backflip before running around it. Jackson saw the Rockets take their hostages by the arm and run forward with them.

The Mankey cursed at herself for letting them get away before running forward at the Houndour. It shot an Ember at her to which she didn't dodge so much as duck, allowing the back of her light colored fur to be singed as she slammed her wrist into the bone where the Pokemon's leg connected to the rest of its body, a place Leif showed her could be a good place to immobilize a quadrapedic Pokemon. It fell back in pain with a puff of flame before Jackson jumped over it and launched herself forward. She saw Leif ahead of her as he chased after the crowd of humans. The Mankey looked back around to see the forms of Pokemon laying around, moaning in pain and struggling to get up as it was obviously Leif's handy work.

It did not take Leif long at all to shoot a few Bullet Seeds in the back of the Pokemon still surrounding the Rockets in non-vital areas. The fell to the ground as Jackson caught up with Leif.

"Jump them," Leif said.

"Right," Jackson replied.

The Mankey launched herself forward and jumped on slammed into the shoulder of a Rocket woman, felling her to the ground before jumping in front of the running Rockets. They froze in place as Leif trapped them from behind.

"Out of our way!" a man said. "Our boss will-!"

Jackson sweeped his legs beneath him with a Low Kick, sending him to the ground crying. She then glared down at the humans as she noticed the only two not in uniform, the young girl and the gruff man, were also looking on in fear. Jackson sighed to herself as she tried to regain her composure.

"Look," she said. "You're out of Pokemon and clearly outmatched by yourselfs. If you stand down, no harm will come to any of-"

And that was when Jackson felt the splash of blood hit below her eye. She couldn't move for a moment, paralyzed in confusion. At first she panicked in fear that it was the Rockets who had killed the hostages. When she saw they were fine she breathed a sigh in relief, only to discover they had their heads turned to the very back of the crowd of Rockets.

She looked to see the limp body of a Rocket skewered on a sharp, stiff green leaf that jutted from Leif's arm. He immediately shook the body of the Rocket off his Leaf Blade before charging into the crowd of Rockets. Blood splashed everywhere and Jackson had to duck to prevent the scarlet from getting in her eyes. The Mankey charged at Leif as he cut down another Rocket and slammed into him, hard.

Leif was thrown backward, picking himself up as Jackson glared down at him. She quickly looked back at the the remaining humans. Leif had killed three with his Leif Blades as two Rockets were still alive, one woman and one man, and paralyzed with fear, laying on the ground in fear as they stared up at the two Pokemon. The hostages, whom Jackson assumed were father and daughter, laid on the ground as the girl clung to the older man in fear. She then turned to the Grovyle who was looking on at her with a kind of apathetic disappointment.

"Move," he said.

"Stop this right now!" Jackson cried. "You're killing these people without mercy! Don't you know its wrong to kill anyone has no way of defending themselves!"

Leif only glared at her.

"Get out of my way!" he yelled.

Leif rushed forward but Jacksoon stopped him with a Low Kick. He tripped to the ground, his neck dirtied as a result before standing back up. Jackson attempted to Karate Chop him but Leif dodged and swung his claw at her. She could feel it hiss beside her ear as it slashed a few strands of her fur off before she attempted to kick at him with again but Leif dodged it, attempting to slash her with his Leaf Blade.

Jackson ducked beneath his weapons of foliage and Karate Chopped him in the stomach. Leif was flung back as he fired a few Bullet Seeds at her to which she backflipped and dodged with ease. She glared at Leif and watch his own leer transform into a grin as he pointed behind her.

Jackson turned around to the male Rocket had let loose a Houndour he was still carrying in its Pokeball. It had turned to use a Flamethrower on them to which both she and Leif dodged with a sideways jump. He threatened the hostages and they reluctantly ran with him, afraid of his threats to burn them alive. Jackson looked to see the woman Rocket was long gone as well.

"Now I'll give you one of two choices," Leif said. "You can chase after and get back the hostages while I run after the Rocket…or you can continue fighting me in a futile attempt to save the life of someone with no right to live."

Jackson glared at him, crying a little before she ran off towards the path the hostages were being taken.

{}

Jackson dodged Ember after Ember, the heat of the intense flames singeing edges of her fur. The Houndour's Fire attacks were relentless so she dodged to the right, gripped onto the trunk of tree, and scaled it quickly. Her vision was completedly obscured from the Houndour's vision, made obvious by the fact it could not fire an Ember that so much as landed with three feet away from her. She then jumped across the branches with impeccable speed before locking onto her targets.

Jackson raised arm to prepare for a Karate Chop before the Houndour unleashed a Flamethrower where she stood. The tree branches she stood on burst into flame and the Mankey was brought down to the earth while the three humans and the Pokemon ran right past her, thinking she was dead. The Mankey smiled to herself as soon as the were out of sight. Jackson then scaled a nearby tree and leaped across the branches, elated as she caught up to them so far behind they could not see.

 _Perfect._ She thought.

{}

The woman ran through the trees at a breakneck pace, not once looking back to confirm whether the Grovyle was or was not still chasing after her. She felt the forest's trees enclose around her, restricting her every movement. The fear-induced adrenaline caught in her throat. It was not until she reached a grove that she stopped, needing to catch her breath as the cold air stung the inside of her throat like ice jabbed into her esophagus. She bent over in exhaustion before noticing all the shapes moving around her.

They were no doubt Pokemon. They moved in vague shadowy shapes before she heard a drop from behind her. She slowly turned around to see the Grovyle in front of her. There was nothing about him that invoked any humanity. From his reptilian features to the foliage growing from his body he looked nothing like a person. And his eyes, even in the dark she could see his yellow eyes glow with a sort of inhuman hostility, a kind of gaze from something you know will not show mercy.

Leif stepped forward, that spade-shaped blade growing from his arm. He stared the human woman down, glaring at her with a contempt that one would think could only be given by a personal enemy. And as he stepped closer, she knew she was done for. There was no escaping him. He could outrun her before she even thought about moving, was stronger than her in every way and had the reflexes and perceptions of a predator. Escape was not an option.

"Do you know why the wilds are not attacking you right now?" Leif asked.

The woman shook her head as tears flowed from her eyes.

"It is because they recognize a predator when they see one," he said. "Once a Pokemon closes in for a kill, no Pokemon weaker gets close to their kill, lest they anger that predator. In other words, any inhabitants of his forest nearby I am stronger than them."

She began to cry, her eyes becoming rimmed with red as she bit her lower lip and began wishing she'd told to her loved ones she loved them before leaving on this mission. She then stared up at him as she glared at him and recognized something about him. Once she did the Rocket knew she would not have the last laugh.

"You're the Green Demon."

Leif almost stopped in mid-walk.

"What?" he asked.

"Rockets that survived the invasion on Mount Moon told of a single Pokemon who broke in and wrecked the whole place before freeing the captured wilds," she said.

"Very gracious you acknowledge my legacy," he said.

"But you don't even know of what happened to those Pokemon once they left Mount Moon, do you?" she asked.

Leif was almost afraid to ask.

"Yes," she said. "Almost all the Pokemon were found later, the next day in fact, in the wilderness in a large group as they clung to one another for survival. However, Rockets nearby got the information they'd escaped. The wilds were trapped by the horde of our force's Pokemon. They fought to the death against the Rockets who sought to imprison them again and almost all of them dying fighting. The few who survived were put back into captivity."

The Grovyle's once maddened gaze turned into something truly pathetic. Instead of his eyes practically glowing with rage he sunk in on himself, his glare replaced with a sullen acceptance of failure. His back bent, he Leaf Blade sagging to his side as his legs bent with him, staring off at the ground. His body also shook as if he were cold.

"Yes," she continued. "You led them all to their death. If you'd not let them escape they would have survived."

And the Grovyle stood still, as if he did not know what to do, his entire form frozen as his eyes grew distant.

{Jackson}

The male Rocket, sweating profusely walked forward, his Houndour growling at the girl and the older man to move forward as they strode behind him, ropes around their arms. From out of the darkness appeared a woman Rocket that smiled and shook hands with him, her Poocheyena looking vigilantly around her to keep an eye out for predators.

"I see you brough the prisoners," she said. "I heard scuffling. I suppose the others were killed. Who sent them, the gym leader you radioed me that forced you out of your hiding place?"

"My team mates were in fact killed," he said. "But not by the gym leader. Something else did it. I don't know whose it was but I think the rumors may be confirmed."

"Oh…" she said. "Well then, did you find out any information on the mystery the boss personally wanted us to investigate?"

"No dice," he said. "No confirmed reports even though a sighting was reported not far outside the city limits. Plus, our position was compromised which forced us to evacuate. We had strong suspicions one of our team mates spilled the information afte being captured."

"Oh," she said. "Shall we continue on our way to Vermillion City?"

The male Rocket nodded.

"Let's," he said. "Selling these two to the military should be a synch. Their both young and healthy and the younger one will make a good slave."

"Capture any good Pokemon while you were over at Cerulean City?" the woman asked.

"A few," he said. "Mostly Grass-types. We could sell some of them on the food market for good eating but a few may make good fighters."

"An unsuccessful mission then," the woman sighed. "And we lost so many due to it."

The male nodded.

"Let's go he said."

"That's all I needed to hear."

From around them appeared a cream-colored blur that struck the man's Houndour and sent it crashing into a tree. The man whirled around to see the Mankey smiling up at him.

"It seems you presumed I was dead," she said. "How mistaken you were to give away your entire operation just now."

Jackson admired his terrified expression for a moment.

"Poocheyena, Bite!" the woman yelled.

It charged her at full speed but Jackson jumped to the side before Karate Chopping it in the side of the neck. The blow sent it skidding to the ground.

Jackson narrowed her eyes on the woman who attempted to run but the Mankey leaped onto her, Low Kicking it with such force she was sent to the ground, crying in pain. Jackson then did the same with the man, who fell to the ground screaming in agony. The Mankey then looked up to the young girl and the older man who looked at her with relieved smiles through teary eyes.

Jackson jumped up to cut the ropes with a single Fury Swipe each. The older man walked over to the male Rocket, stomping his foot into his throat.

"So," he said. "You think you can threaten to kill me and my niece unless we give you our home as a base to operate and get away with it? I'll murder-"

"No!" Jackson yelled.

He looked down at her with confusion.

"I understand these men deserve to pay for their crimes!" she said. "But bringing them to the police for futher questioning is far more beneficial! If you do, they can uncover information that could prevent anything like what happened to you and and your niece from coming about again!"

"It _will_ happen again!" he said. "And unless we-"

"Their information they possess is far more valuable than their own lives," Jackson said. "Please, at least as a small token of appreciation from me."

His expression softened slightly before grabbing the man by the scruff of the neck.

"So be it," he said.

The Mankey hopped over to grab the other Rocket in an armful before turning around.

"We'll drag them back to the city," Jackson said. "And take them to the gym leader. They will not miss punishment, I can gurantee."

"So be it," he said.

{}

The woman Rocket stared at him with mocking satisfaction, loving the tears that streamed down his eyes, the way his body just sulled up and seemed to shrink. She could not help but grin.

"A once proud terrorist," she said. "Now reduced to a sniveling ogre of a being."

He glared at her barely veiled rage.

"Like I said," she uttered. "I had the last laugh."

The Grovyle looked up at her, the Rocket's eyes full of triumph. He narrowed his eyes at her before turning around.

"I have decided not to kill you," he said. "You are not worth my time."

"A merciful proposal," she said. "Tell me, what brought you to this conclusion."

The Grovyle lowered his eyes to the ground, his irises glazed over as if they were out of focus. He seemed to be looking beyond what was in front of him.

"I do not have…," Leif said, his voice shaking. It was not clear as to whether or not this was due to anger or if he was on the verge of crying. The only thing one could gather from this shaking was that it was full of raw emotion. "Have the strength to kill you. You were right. You had the last laugh. I feel drained of power."

And as Leif wondered away, the woman turned to run but stopped by the glowing eyes of a Zigzagoon. She ran back only to see dark shapes rustled around in the trees that surrounded her. The Rocket shook with fright, tears now welling up in her eyes.

"I will allow the wild Pokemon to take care of that for me," Leif said.

She raised her right arm as high as she could, crying and screaming in fright.

"Please!" she said as she became surrounded by growingly angry faces. "Help me! Save me! I _beg_ of you!"

Leif's voice was distant now as he slowly walked away from the helpless woman.

"I will not kill you," he said. "But I will not save you either. The world is better off without you."

And they ripped her apart. Leif looked over his shoulder to see her screaming intensify, blood spurting near her body, bits of flesh flying. Leif indignantly at the scene before turning his head as tears streamed down his face.

 _I._ He thought. _I have failed._

{Jackson}

Jackson led the girl and the man forward as the latter dragged the wounded and immobilized Rockets behind him. The Mankey had to actually wound another leg on each of them to make it easier for the man to drag them. The Mankey grew concerned of the dark shapes of Pokemon that appeared around her before she saw four familiar shapes running towards her. They launched a series of ice, water and electricity that warded off a force of attacking Zigzagoon and Aipom.

When Jackson met up with Sam he grinned down at her as his three Pokemon surrounding them, launching ranged attacks to keep the wilds at bay.

"What happened?!" Sam asked in a hurry. "We heard scuffling distantly and yelling! Someone sounded like they were in pain and we saw fire! Why didn't you get back to us?! Are you okay?! Where's Leif?!"

"We saw these two," she pointed to the humans she'd rescued. "And thought we needed to save them as quick as possible. Sorry we couldn't get to you sooner but it appeared to be an emergency. And Leif…I don't know where he went…"

She trailed off, not wishing to inform her trainer of what Leif had done just yet.

The boy sighed.

"Can we please find him?!" he demanded. "Last time he got lost he almost got himself killed!"

"No need to declare me dead just yet."

They all turned to see the Grovyle walking towards them, sighing heavily. It was apparent he'd been crying.

"You okay?" Sam asked. "What happened?"

"I…um…I got…," he stuttered. "I was fending off a few Rockets' Pokemon and almost got lost in the woods. A bit…hectic."

Sam, Cera, Judeau and Kalder sighed collectively before they departed forward back to Cerulean City.

"The first place we're taking you guys is the police station," Sam said as they moved forward. "I'm sure they'll just love to hear how two criminals were kidnapping a young girl and her father-"

"Sorry, uncle," he corrected. "From their own _house._ "

The Rockets stayed silent, not saying anything.

"Stains of shit is what they are," Kalder said. "I'd bludgeon you creeps to death if I could get away with it. And leave you to the scavengers."

"Sam," Jackson said. "I did in fact manage to hear what they had to say right before they would have taken these two."

"That's great!" Sam said. "If you tell that to the authorities it may help the process of questioning!"

"You think so?" Jackson asked.

"I don't know for sure," Sam said. "But you did a great job of helping! I'm proud of you!"

And with that Jackson almost cried in happiness.

{Sam}

"They said something about bringing the hostages to the military," the Mankey said. "As well as trying to find evidence about something that had unconfirmed rumors."

She stood squatting down in front of the two male police officers. Sam and the rest of his Pokemon sat in the police station as Jackson was questioned, their captives taken. The girl and her uncle that had been kidnapped were also being asked questions by the police. The boy was surprised to see the gym leader Misty was leaning agains the wall across from him, fortunately (well, secretely unfortunately for him) she was wearing loose blue shirt with jeans, much less revealing than her swimsuit she'd been bathing in. The red-haired woman eyed Jackson from across the room as she continued to give a full analysis of what she witnessed. After she was done telling the officers about they stood up.

"Thank-you," the blonde said. "Its because of you these criminals who managed to escape us last time are now apprehened."

"How did they manage to escape?" Jackson asked.

"We attempted to surround them," Misty said. "On all sides their secret base had been compromised by my gym's finest Water-types. However, they had an escape route dug from beneath the floor to which they escaped to an unknown location in the wilderness. We attempted to track them down, my gym trainers were sent out to blockade routes and alert patrolling trainers to search for them."

"Makes even more sense when you know who used to own that house," the blonde police officer said.

"Oh, that was-" the brunette officer was about to say.

"Yep," he said. "That girl's father was a known informant to the Rocket's. We got him a while back and she's been raised by her father ever since. Makes sense that house would have a tunnel dug from somewhere outside city limits to a house that led to another Rocket's home."

"Probably," he said. "And they may not have known that girl's dad had been apprehended and walked in on the two of them by mistake. They were liabilities that they probably kept as hostages."

"Most likely," Misty said. "But until now we could not find them because its possible they were hiding in the forest somewhere, waiting until night to make a move. From the information your Mankey gave us it seems that they waited until dark to give those hostages to a Rocket agent to avoid suspicion of being seen with them."

"I would not doubt that," the brunette police officer said. "We'll discuss this matter tomorrow morning. I need my sleep."

They left to which Jackson leapt off the table to run back to Sam's side. Misty sighed to herself when the two officers were gone, plopping herself down into a nearby chair.

"I can't _believe_ my luck," she said. " _Twice_ I had to rely on some kid to save _my_ town for me."

She gave him an uneasy smile before the boy grinned sheepishly.

"No need to thank me," Sam said. "It was my Pokemon. The first time it was Kalder who helped catch that Rocket and now it was Jackson and Leif. I didn't do much."

"Well at least you were here," Misty said. "I've had _so_ many problems lately. Nearly half of my trainees are fighting the Johto army at seaside. The Elite Four wanted me to go as well but I said hell no, I'm staying here with my town. I've been understaffed and underfunded for awhile now and can barely keep this town afloat without breaking into panic."

"Oh," Sam said. "How long have you been trying to run it?"

"About five years now," she said. "I was the one to actually build this moat around Cerulean. Works better than an electic fence since it doesn't take as much power and keeps land Pokemon out just as well."

"I'm sure it does," Sam said.

"I'm sorry I don't have any money to give you," she said. "Well, you know what, you've helped us so much I would if you wanted me to."

"No," Sam said, shaking his head. "I'm glad to have helped as much as I did. I don't really care for a reward."

"What?!" Judeau cried. "Why not?! We just went through all that trouble and-!"

He was cut short as Kalder and Cera bonked him on the head and he fell to the floor.

"So no," Sam said.

"Well," Misty said. "I'm glad you were hear just the same. But I need you to do something for me, Samuel."

"Sure," he said.

"Never tell anyone about this," Misty said.

"Why?" Sam asked. "Isn't it common knowledge the Rockets abduct whomever they want to?"

"Yes…" Misty said. "But if what you told me was true…"

There was a distinctive graveness in her voice, one that couldn't be mistaken for anything except something that threatened one's life. Whatever the gym leader was thinking she said it as if her own life was at stake.

"Then…" she stuttered. "The military is somehow involved with the Rockets."

Sam recoiled back in shock, his eyes going wide.

"That…" he started. "That's…how could _that_ happen? It just doesn't make any sense! Wouldn't the League know about this if they were?!"

"Well, Sam," Misty said. "Maybe high ranking members of the military…overlook it. You know the draft was abolished because too many men were being taken from Kanto, right?"

"My father was taken by that draft," Sam said.

"Of course," she said. "And ever since those choosing to fight and serve have been mostly voluntary. However, if an underground criminal syndacite like the Rockets were tasked with selling people to the military then it might not be such a farfetched idea."

"How do you figure that?" Sam asked.

Misty stayed silent in response to Sam's question for a moment, a long, pregnant pause which ended only with an uncomfortable answer.

"Because claims like this," she said. "Are not uncommon."

Samuel felt part of himself go mute when hearing this, almost as if he'd lost feeling in half his head.

"We gym leaders hear about it every so often," she said.

"You mean-"

"Yes, Sam," she said. "This is not the first, nor last, time something like this will pop up. It is imperative that for your safety and mine that not a word of we know is spoken outside here. If the Rockets are in cahoots with the military then…well, you wouldn't want to take any risks."

The boy nodded.

{}

They arrived back in the Pokemon Center later that night as Misty had talked with the nurse and let him spend the night there free. Every seemed to be on edge that night, anxious and unable to sleep. Sam didn't know hwo his Pokemon felt, probably the excitement from that night's events, but he knew that he couldn't go to sleep because of the overwhelming fear.

 _The military…the Rockets…together?_ Sam thought. _And the worst of it, Misty even said she'd heard of stuff like this_ before _tonight! How long has this stuff been going on?!_

"Well that was a waste of time," Judeau said.

Well, maybe there was another reason no one could sleep. Judeau would not stop complaining about their situation. While everyone else couldn't really stand still, continuing to walk around or sit quietly, he coped by mockingly attacking their situation.

"Look at how fucking dark it is now, we even had to take the last boat arriving tonight or we'd be stuck with those two Rockets until morning. But of course, now that there _are no more ferries_ we'll have to lose all that time we could've been getting to the SS Anne-!"

"Judeau, shut up," Cera said. "Yes, we know you're angry about it but why can't please _shut up_!?"

"I won't," Judeau said. "If we'd just had these guys killed we could have sent those two off by themselves without us having to sit here and waste another day!"

"We have time to get there," Sam said. "The SS Anne will leave-"

"I know, I know!" the Flaafy shouted. "In about eight days or so, I don't give a fuck! You don't know how long we'll be on the road! You don't know how long it'll take to get to Vermillion! Hell, maybe Alex was lying about it!"

Sam turned to him from his position on the bed to stare at him.

"I don't see why he'd be lying about _that_ ," Sam retorted.

"Or maybe he wasn't lying!" Judeau said. "Maybe he was mistaken, I don't know, that's not the fucking point!"

"Then what is?" Jackson asked apathetically.

"The point _is_ ," Judeau said. "That anything could get in our way of getting there. We could be held up by the weather, by wilds attacking, by just being too damn tired! I don't know…its just that we're on a tight schedule whether we have time or not! What if it turns out this boat is already full because we didn't arrive in time!"

"What if it sinks and getting to Vermillion was pointless?" Kalder asked sarcastically.

"The point is we need to get there as soon as possible," Judeau said.

Sam rolled his eyes.

"Thanks Judeau," he said. "I never would have thought of that otherwise."

"If you didn't waste time on being a good two shoes you would have been thinking of it!" he yelled.

"Judeau!" Kalder said. "Are you saying that we should have never helped those two to begin with? Because of our actions they're safe at home instead of being enslaved!"

"Yeah?" Judeau asked. "And so what? Pokemon are enslaved every day by them. Every day that catch us in whole, day in and day out. And no ever bats an eye."

Judeau then turned to Samuel.

"Second," he continued. "It doesn't matter about morals. Do you think you can honestly have any kind of peace or safety by going around being some kind of meddling hero? That's not what this world is about. It's not even how you survive. No one makes it any easier on themselves or anybody by being good to others."

Sam turned over in his bed, shutting his eyes hard.

"Judeau," he begged. "Please go to sleep."


End file.
